The Test
by Crystalicios
Summary: The kids of Nintendo City have been handed invitations to a theme park during the summer. But while this seems like fun, thefun can get deadly. Deaths occur that seem to be on purpose, and other stuff besides. Ch 15 up! [ITS OVER!]
1. The Invite

Hey people! It's me again! With another story… Hope you guys liked it as well as the other one!

All the Smashers: Aw…

Crystalicios: I do not own Super Smash Bros. But I do own this whole idea.

_**Mario's POV**_

I blinked into the sunlight and dread gripped my stomach. I looked into the alarm clock. 9:30 AM. Crap. We were late.

"Luigi! We're late-a! Get up-a! We're going to be late for school-a!" I shouted into his ear, imitating the Italian accent a lot of people thought I had.

"Wha!" He shot up alarmingly. He looked at the clock and muttered something and fell back under the covers.

"LUIGI!" I screamed.

"Shut yer pizza-breath up. Its summer vacation!" Luigi whined, snuggling into his pillow.

I sighed and my shoulders drooped. I should've known that. But now that I was too awake so I dressed myself and did all that normal morning junk.

After eating breakfast I went on the computer and signed on. As soon as I did Peach just had to IM me:

**Peachilicious: **Hey!

**Italiangangsta**: sup?

**Peachilicious**: Nada. U?

**Italiangangsta**: nm…

**Peachilicious**: Hey! Did u hear about da new theme park?

**Italiangangsta**: Ya. Wut about it?

**Peachilicious**: Onli da ppl that get n invite in da mail r allowed 2 come

**Italiangangsta**: dat's weird.

**Peachilicious**: n I got n invite in da mail!

**Italiangangsta**: kewl.

**Peachilicious**: wut about u?

**Italiangangsta**: dunno. Gotta chek mi mail. Who else got n invite?

**Peachilicious**: um… malon... Zelda… link… samus… fox… I expect some other ppl as well…

**Italiangangsta**: Well im gna chek my mail. Brb

**Peachilicious**: k

Auto response from Italiandude: I'm away from my computer now

I turned away and went outside breathing in the fresh air. I went up to the mailbox and checked my mail. There was a post card from Arizona, an ad, and two envelopes.

Frowning slightly but also excited, I tore open the seal of one of them. I read the message:

Dear Mario:

Congratulations! You are one of the people chosen to go on our newly opened theme park called "Smash Adventure" for eight days! The theme park will open at promptly 8:00 PM and there is a hotel for you to stay in. Your key to your room is inside the envelope. Please present your ticket to the guard at the front of the gate. Wear the ID badge located inside the envelope at all times. If you are not seen with the ID you will be persecuted. We hope to be seeing you at the theme park at 8:00 PM sharp on April 8th! Once again, congratulations!

Sincerely,

MH

Owner of "Smash Adventure"

I stared, feeling slightly excited. This was tomorrow! I had, however of the same envelopes. But the other one said Luigi's name on it so I assumed he was chosen as well

**Italiangangsta**: Got it in da mail

**Peachilicious**: Really? YAY!

**Italiangangsta**: um… I g2g Peach, cya

**Peachilicious**: ite byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Italiangangsta has signed off

I sighed wheeling off the computer. I went outside and walked around. I was highly nervous. There had to be a reason why you got an invite in the mail. I also thought about what Peach had said and realized that only teens and below had been invited. That was strange. No parents at all. Well it would be fun. And since there were no parents we could have a lot more fun.

"Hey Malon. MALON!" I shouted trying to attract the teenage girl's attention.

"Huh? Whattaya want?" She frowned slightly at my behavior. She quickly brushed aside her brown hair.

"D'you know that invite you got in the mail?" I said loudly from across the lawn.

She suddenly turned pale and licked her lips nervously. "I- I don't know what your talking about. But do you want to see my Lon Lon eggs? They're doing quite well!"

I raised an eyebrow at her queer (A/N: Hahaha that's an old word) behavior but her eyes seemed to plead to accept. "Uh… Okay!" I yelled and quickly bounded over the lawn and to her farmish house.

"They're doing quite well." She repeated, pointing at three large eggs.

"Malon… Peach said-" I started

"Shut up!" She hissed and her frown increased further. "Come to my room."

"Okay."

She opened the back door and I was greeted by Talon (A/N: I've never played Zelda before so I'm assuming Talon is Malon's father!)

"Hello! What can I do for you today?" He rumbled. He clapped a hand on my shoulder and I winced in pain. "Sorry abou' that." He said jerking his hand off.

"It's okay."

"Dad, I'm going upstairs to show Mario something. That alright with you?" She asked. Malon hardly lied to her father. It was incredible how she could tell the truth without actually telling the whole thing.

"Yeah Malon show him what you want."

He gave me a wink before going out to the barn.

Once we were in her room I couldn't help but burst out, "You did get an invite in the mail right?"

"Yes! Not so loud." She hissed yet again.

"Sorry." I muttered.

"I did get an invite but don't mention it to Father."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because… he doesn't like these types of things." She was looking for something in her drawers.

"What's so bad about it?"

"Can't you tell by reading it? Why do you think only teens and children are invited? Have you noticed that no parents were invited? And even if they were their children aren't? If my father knew about this he'd kill me." She said exaggerating the truth.

"Oh, come on Malon! Your father's not that bad. He's not a monster! He'll let you go! Just say your being room mates with Peach and Zelda and Samus!"

She thrust a piece of paper into my hands. "There you go. There's the letter. Give it to someone else!" She looked at it fearfully.

"Don't you want to go?" I asked quietly, after going through the words of the invitation.

She looked at me exasperatedly. "Of _course_! I want to go so badly. But I can't disobey my dad!" she wrung her hands.

"Who said anything about disobeying?" Came a rumble from the doorway.

We both shot our heads up and he looked at Malon with a serious expression.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing." She quickly stammered and shoved the letter behind her back.

"Give me that letter." He had an annoyed expression on his face.

I shrunk back into the wall, wanting to be ignored. I had never saw Talon in a temper like this.

He grabbed the letter from her hand and read it, his expression relaxed for a minute and then he looked up.

"You haven't packed yet, Malon! It's for eight days. And you have to go tomorrow!"

"I- I can come!" She asked incredulously.

"Of course. That's unless you don't want to." He added anxiously.

"Of course!" She threw her hands around her father. Boy, oh boy. Malon was a very emotional girl. "Thank you daddy, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She planted a kiss on her father's cheek and I slipped away, not wanting to be part of the very emotional moment.

I twirled my moustache thoughtfully. Malon said that her father didn't want her to go… but yet… "OW!" I felt a sharp poke on my back. I stopped twirling my moustache and turned around.

It was Marth. Exactly why he was here I didn't know.

Deciding to be a little bit rude I grumbled, "Hey gayness."

He grinned back, "Good to see you in a good mood too Mario. Although I wouldn't say that your diets going too well."

He looked down at me and I suddenly felt very small. I was always the short one.

"Ah, shut up." I yawned stretching my hands.

"So," He asked being all businesslike, "I wanted to ask if you got anything in the mail."

I stopped stretching and looked at him. "Let me guess, you got an invite in the mail too?"

He yawned and I had a fleeting impression of a spoiled young prince, "Well obviously. Who could avoid someone as handsome as I? Or someone as skilled in swordsmanship and cunning and nobility…" On and on he went on talking.

"Yes, yes Marth but you forgot one thing." I said, wanting to provoke him.

"What's that?" He stopped his long list abruptly.

"You're the only gay kid on the block." Saying so I ran. Too bad he was much taller than me. He caught up and pulled me up by my back of my collar.

"Ah! Don't rape me!" I yelled trying to claw his face.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." He remarked sarcastically. He suddenly grinned nastily and drew me forward. "Not even a gay nerd would like you." He dropped me to the floor and I scrambled away from him.

Even though I was a popular hero and all, The Pretty Boys (As the rest of the boys called Link, Roy and Marth) scared me a lot. They were actually the handsomest, as all the others said.

"Bah… what balderdash…" I brooded and slammed my door behind me.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

This is my second story. Do tell how good I did! Please R&R


	2. And So It Begins!

CHAPTER 2

THE TEST

Crystalicios: I do not own SSBM but I do own this idea.

AHHH! I HATE IT WHEN FANFICTION DOESN'T LET YOU PUT UNDERSCORES! Or any other special characters... It drives me nuts!

* * *

_**Fox's POV

* * *

**_

Italiangangsta has invited you to a conference

* * *

I scrolled my mouse up and pressed accept.

* * *

Arwingpilot has joined the room

* * *

Arwingpilot: Wut's up? 

Italiangangsta: nm… I wuz gna ask if u got nething in da mail…

Peachilicious: Yah

LonLonchk: I'm ALLOWED 2 GO! YAY!

SexiiSaria: Um… so am i… yay…

Arwingpilot: um… my gramma's sick…

SexiiSaria: haha v funny…

ElfinHero: didn't u recieve nething

Arwingpilot: Um… y?

Sexiisaria: DID U RECEIVE A FRIGGIN INVITE IN THE MAIL?

There was an uncomfortable pause. Then:

HyrulianPrincess: Thx ALOT SARIA!

Sexiisaria: O STFU

Arwingpilot: as a matter of fact… yes

Peachilicious: Luigi's going 2

Sexiisaria: yes… we've heard

Hyrulianprincess: Jeez wut's eating u Saria?

Sexiisaria: I dunno… this whole invite thingy is just sooo weird.

Elfinhero: ya I agree.

Hyrulianprincess: ya me 2.

Arwingpilot: Well not that this isn't interesting but I gotta go cya guys tomorrow…

* * *

I signed off and got off the computer. I looked at the invitation in the mail again and re-read it for the umpteenth time. I was very excited but also nervous. I thought about what Saria said. I'd never heard of an invite only theme park. Unless it was only for celebrities and we weren't really counted as celebrities in a town full of heroes. Nintendo city was always full of heroes. I sighed again and sat at the edge of my bed. My father came in and leaned against the doorway. 

"What's up?" He asked.

I looked into his eyes. Or rather his sunglasses. My father always wore sunglasses, even at night or in a place that wasn't sunny.

I ignored his question and asked exasperatedly, "Dad, do you _ever_ take off those glasses?"

"They're cool." He told me easily. He turned around coolly and left. He hated the subject about his sunglasses (A/N: In Star Fox64 Fox's father or rather his spirit that guides him wears sunglasses.)

I went to sleep, with a the promise of an eventful day tomorrow. But my sleep was fitful. I had a nightmare:

* * *

THE DREAM 

_Fox stood in a pink wonderland. Everything was happy. That was all it was. Happy, happy, happy._

"_Excuse me sir?" Squeaked a strawberry on legs, "But is there a problem?"_

"_Yeah." He replied squinting down at the strawberry, "Why's everything so happy?"_

"_Well…" The strawberry shifted uncomfortably. "Nothing's really what it seems." He suddenly gave an evil chuckle and turned bigger and transformed into a wolf. It was Star Wolf._

_Suddenly Fox didn't have his gun or any weapons. But Star wolf had them all._

"_All these years of waiting." He laughed coldly. "Now I'll have my chance."_

_His eyes flickered a bright orange color and looked at Fox straight in the eye. Then a second later he leapt out on tumbled on top of Fox. He raised a knife and it glinted in the bright sun. He brought it down a second later…

* * *

_

Right then and there I felt a shock. Cold water was splashed on my face. I gasped and sat up quickly, my fist flailing wildly. A second later it made contact with sunglasses

CRUNCH! "Damn it Fox! That pair was new and cost me $100!"

I shook the water off my fur and registered the bright sunlight streaming out of the window and heard the trill of the birds. "Why'd you wake me up with water?" I asked angrily.

"Well…" He grinned sheepishly, "It's a proven fact that people wake up better when they get shocked and obviously people get shocked when cold water gets into your face!" He was still grinning at me when I went to the bathroom. I sighed.

Even when I got out he was sitting on my bed and grinning but when I made eye contact he stopped. "What?" I asked automatically.

"My boy is growing up!" His eyes were now brimming with tears.

"Aw dad… don't be so emotional." I said, trying to act like I didn't care. Inside though, I felt so sad. I could never leave my father. No matter how freaky he was or how bad his sunglasses annoyed me.

"But it's true! You lost your mother when you were only five and…"

"You lost your wife at the same time." I finished. I got up, feeling very uncomfortable. I didn't like talking about my mother to anyone. Not even my father.

After a breakfast I strolled around outside. I was already bored of summer (A/N: Okay… I messed up with the dates. They don't have to be there in April because April's not summer where I am. So let's just say it's June 3 as the day they have to arrive) I saw Link talking with Saria, Zelda, Mario, Luigi, and, (my heart did a little flutter) Krystal.

Saria as usual was arguing with Zelda and Link was standing hopelessly on the side, trying to stop them which never really worked. Mario and Luigi seemed to just be there. Krystal seemed to be trying to break up the fight.

"Green Day is SO much better than Linkin Park!" Saria shouted at Zelda whose hair seemed to be at end.

"Linkin Park, at least has good songs. You just like Green Day because it has the word 'Green' in it." She retorted.

"That is SO not true."

"It is totally true!"

"Is not!"

"ARGH!" Krystal threw up her hands in frustration. "Shut up!"

Mario and Luigi snorted when Saria shutted up. Saria never shuts up. Zelda on the other hand stopped but still glaring angrily at Saria.

"Let's go Link. We have better things to do than hang out with green idiots like _her_."

"I like green." Link and Luigi defended in unison.

Mario stared at me for four seconds before shouting, "HEY! Fox! COME OVER HERE!" He bellowed into my ear.

I covered them, "Owie!" I complained, "My ears are sensitive! Don't scream."

Krystal rolled her eyes at me and turned to Saria, Link, Luigi, and Zelda who were now arguing about the color green.

"Green is SO out." She complained, folding her arms.

"If it was out, then why are we all wearing it?" Saria retorted coolly.

"Yeah?" Luigi nodded vigorously.

"AHHH!" We all jumped and turned around. This time we all rolled our eyes (Except for Mario who did it four seconds later)

"My hair's on fire! Get it off! Get it off!" A pyroswordsman clawed at his hair.

Krystal laughed and I grew a little jealous. "Roy? Um… your pants are also on fire." She told him helpfully.

He looked down at his flaming pants and screamed even louder, "AH! GET IT OFF!" He ran away, wildly flailing.

"Don't even ask." I held up my hand when Saria, Krystal, and Zelda opened their mouths.

"Y'know Saria?" Zelda suddenly adopted a pleasant tone. She put her arm around Saria. "Green's a cool color. Why don't we go to the mall and shop for some green stuff?"

Saria looked momentarily confused and looked at her suspiciously before smiling and saying, "Why not?" They left and I saw why Zelda had become so nice. A "kick me" Sign was attached to her behind.

Mario, Luigi and I snorted, but Link and Krystal looked disapprovingly at them and us.

"That isn't funny." Krystal snapped.

Link looked worriedly at Saria and Zelda. "I'd better go with them to make sure they don't hurt each other." Waving a good-bye he flounced away.

Mario and Luigi were still laughing when they were out of sight. "Okay… It wasn't that funny." I told them.

When they were still laughing hysterically I roared, "SHUT UP!"

They immediately stopped and Krystal breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the Lord, they've stopped."

I was tongue-tied and tried to respond. I think I over-responded a little too much. "No problem Krystal! I've always wanted to tell them to shut up. Anything for you Krystal! Anytime, anywhere!"

Mario and Luigi sniggered violently. Krystal looked away and there was an awkward silence that only was interrupted by the Italian brothers. "SHUT UP!" I poked them sharply in the ribs with my elbow.

"Ow!" both of them cried out at the same time.

I felt so shameful. "Well… Um… I have to go… to the… thing." I lamely said, making up anything.

"Wait!" Krystal stopped me. "Can I go with you?" Her face flushed deeply.

I had not been expecting this. "Uh… sure. Why not?"

"Great! Where exactly is this… thing?" She asked me.

"Uhm…" I hadn't been planning to go anywhere but what the heck? "I was planning to visit that theme park."

"You got invited too?" She asked sharply, her gaze directing at me.

I startled and said, "Uh… yeah. Why, did you?"

"Yes…" She suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I can't come Fox. I'm really sorry. I just promised that I'd wash my dad's car." She rushed off. I was puzzled by her behavior but I didn't want to intrude into her privacy.

I sighed. There wasn't anything to do now. Except to get prepared for what was coming tonight.

_**General POV**_

It was 8:30 PM and nothing was happening. Students complained and stamped their feet impatiently. It was only when somebody screeched; "I WISH THIS FRIGGIN' DOOR WOULD OPEN!" did it open finally. Students swarmed in, the courageous in the front and the more cautious in the back. They filed in, which took a long time.

Finally when they were all in a firework exploded into the sky, silencing all of their excited babble. Then the most curious thing floated in. No Nintendo citizen had ever seen a curious creature like this. A gloved hand floated in, like a perfect gentleman. Then its mate floated in, the exact opposite of a gentleman. It laughed crazily and rolled on the floor, which made all the teens and kids jump.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." Came a quiet voice, which they assumed came from the politer hand. "My name is Master Hand the owner of this park. This here," He gestured at the crazy hand, "Is my brother, Crazy Hand, also the owner of this park. You have been summoned here for a very special reason. It is something that will see how well you are at fighting and how quick you are at spotting something wrong. This, my friends, is a test."

* * *

End of Chapter 2… Hope you people liked it! More shall be revealed in the next chapter of course so stay tuned and please review to keep me going! 


	3. Could this get any Stranger?

Chapter 3

Enjoy the fast updates while you can… because my final exams are in June 1st and 2nd and I have to take my SAT'S next week! Eep! So yeah… Thank for the kind reviewers! I really appreciate it!

* * *

_**Samus's POV**_

"Oh, gosh. I can't believe we're sharing a room with two other girls and a _guy_! I mean, this Master Hand dude has got to be kidding! A guy and two annoying brats!" I heard Zelda complain loudly to Peach. Master Hand had just assigned us to rooms. We, that is, Saria, Malon, Zelda, Peach and I were assigned to a two suite connected room.

I was very angry to learn that Zelda thought I was a boy! What in the nerve? Just because I'm a bounty hunter doesn't mean that I'm a guy! She hasn't even seen my face before!

"Zel," I heard Peach say in that high-pitched feminine voice of hers, "How do you know Sammy is a boy?"

"Oh so now your calling him Sammy? Is he your boyfriend!" She asked shrilly, throwing up her hands.

"Well," retorted Peach, her voice becoming higher than usual if possible, "Have you ever looked at her face? I have, so I'd know. You're in eleventh grade so you wouldn't know. Samus and I are in tenth grade; therefore I'm friends with her."

I couldn't help but grin behind my helmet. I silently cheered on Peach.

"…Share a room with Zelda! I mean, she's SO protective over everything! It's like she gives no breathing space to Link! I mean, who does she think she is, commanding me to back away from him!" I heard angry voice behind me.

"I know!" Malon said, flipping her brown hair behind her. "It's like she's commanding him to go out with him!" She said loudly, which made Zelda turn around and glare at her.

I didn't want to be a part of this. So, I just let myself be carried around by the crowd. I thought about what Master Hand had said. Me and Captain Falcon were worried about this news.

"_Feel free to do whatever you wish to do! Every meal here is free and every ride!" Master hand told the crowd below._

_Everybody cheered but Samus was still suspicious. Alongside was Falcon. He had a cheery grin. But it soon vanished when he noticed Samus very quiet which meant she was being thinking about this whole thing._

"_Hey Sammy. What's up?" He asked her._

"_I don't know," She admitted rather reluctantly, "But I have a feeling that there's a drawback to this."_

_Scarcely had the words escaped her lips when Master Hand continued. "As you will notice before, I had said this was a test. This reason is because the gates are now firmly locked. They shall not budge until; you have completed all of the rides."_

_Everyone laughed. This was easy to them. Samus was looking intently at Master Hand. Even now Falcon was looking at him too._

"_You think it is easy then?" Master Hand said, amused. "Well then, it is best if you get some sleep because you have a busy day tomorrow! If you pull out your key in your envelopes you shall find the room number. Inside is another piece of paper stating your roommates and what hotel number you are staying in. There are five to two people to each room. Enjoy yourselves." He swept his hand majestically and vanished. His brother standing next to him gave a sinister laugh, which made Samus shiver but everyone else laugh. He slapped his hand on the floor and with a loud bang he vanished as well and was replaced by a big bright firework._

_Samus didn't know why, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of forbiddance._

I sighed deeply to myself. I bumped into Krystal. "Sorry." I muttered.

She turned around, that look in her face that looked like she was permanently interested in something. Her face softened and she said, "Your name is… Samus, is it not?" She asked.

Krystal was a ninth grader, but she acted like a twelfth grader. She was highly mysterious at some times and at others she seemed very girly. I vaguely recounted that she had a major crush on Fox. People who didn't know her well said she was psychic but I didn't believe in that kind of stuff. Bounty hunters never believed in fantasy, even though it was all around us at Nintendo City.

"Krys!" Katt exclaimed, "We got to get to our rooms!" I also remembered Katt. She was a pinkish cat, with a girly charm. Highly witty and ambitious. Her eyes gave off a daring foolish look as though to ask, "Are you challenging _me_?" I also recounted that she dated Falco, a big hotshot. I sometimes wondered if she dated him just to get more popularity.

"Hey," Krystal gave me a light shove. I instantly turned my attention to her. "Wanna walk with us?"

"Uh," I looked at my watch quickly, "I guess I have time." I told her walking alongside of her.

I walked around with them. I wasn't even listening to Katt talking to Krystal about boys and fashion statements as I breathed in the night air. I wished I could take off my helmet but I imagined Katt's face if she found out I was a girl and quickly abandoned the thought.

A half hour later I told them, "I'm going to my hotel now guys. It's getting a bit late. So I'll see you around." I waved to them and walked to hotel number 3. I took the elevator to my room and walked in without being fully conscious.

"Oh, here comes the _boy_." Saria muttered darkly. It was obvious she had another fight with Zelda.

"Oh shut your hole up." I said, tired of her. "I'm more a girl than you are."

"Yeah, okay, gayness." Saria retorted, unfazed.

"Saria!" Peach said warningly.

"What!" Saria exploded. "He's being rude to me, so I have to be rude back!"

I angrily took off my helmet and slammed it on the bedside table so hard; there was a dent in there.

Saria flinched and then gave a smirk. "Of course. I should've known that _Sammy_ was a guy girl!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Zelda narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Yeah?" I asked. I didn't think much of Zelda but I was glad she stuck up for me, even though it was for her own reasons.

"It means that, you'll never date. Why, you don't even have a date at tenth grade! How sad!"

"I wouldn't be talking, dumb ass." I said, unzipping my armor to reveal a white tank top and black jeans.

Saria blushed furiously before replying, "I do have a date!"

"Oh and who'd that be? Some crapped up guy wearing your favorite color for once?" Zelda retorted.

Malon, Peach, and I snorted. We all knew that Saria's favorite color was green.

"FYI Zelda, I wouldn't be talking!" Saria said, turning a deep maroon color

"What do you mean!" She asked, flicking a blond strand behind her carelessly.

"Link asked me to go out with him for dinner."

Zelda turned white. Her hands suddenly shook. "No- you're… he'd never…" She collapsed on the bed.

Peach plopped down right beside her and rubbed her back comfortingly. All the while she glared at Saria who was smugly examining her nails. I was shocked by this piece of information. Everyone in Nintendo High, and practically the whole of Nintendo city knew that they were dating every since 6th grade. It was pretty young but they'd always date one another and no one else.

Malon on the other hand, was looking at Saria nervously as if it were all a joke. "Come now, he seriously didn't ask you out on a date?"

"Why do you think we're going out tonight?" Saria retorted and bounced her short hair.

Malon turned the shade of her hair and you could literally see steam coming out of her ears. "Link would never go out with _you _of all people. Trust me, he's told me things about you."

"What ever. He's going out with me tomorrow at dinner."

I sat down gently next to Zelda, but I didn't have anything comforting to tell her.

"Any guy who makes you cry isn't worth your tears Zellie," Peach told her, "Any guy who is worth your tears would never make you cry." Peach gave her a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek comfortingly (A/N: This isn't shounen-ai people in case if you were wondering if Peach is a lesbian or not!)

Zelda finally looked up. Her cheeks were flushed and tear-streaked. "You're right." She said and went to the bathroom.

The rest of us were looking at Saria. She determinedly looked away, but there was still a hint of a smirk on her face.

"Well…" Peach got up and fluffed her pillow and jumped on the bed. She was already dressed in her silk light pink spaghetti strapped dress. She pulled the covers over her and said, "Nighty night girls."

I went into the second bathroom and quickly changed into a baggy shirt and pants. When I came out, the lights were closed and everyone was sleeping except for Zelda who was hiccoughing a little from her hard crying. I turned toward the terrace window and almost fell out of the bed in shock. Someone was staring right back at me, standing at the terrace. I stumbled out of bed and opened the sliding door and stepped out and closed it.

The stranger was clad in a black cloak that covered him completely. A hood covered his face. He wore sturdy boots. I didn't know what to make of it.

"What do you think you're doing here?" I hissed at him. I wasn't scared. This was the job of a bounty hunter like me.

"I could ask you the same question." He said in a low voice under the hood.

I rolled my eyes at his hood and commanded, "Show yourself! I'm armed. And I have three people who know I'm out here."

"Three sissies you mean. And nobody knows you're out here. I won't show myself, but consider me a friend."

"Why would I do such a foolish thing like that?" I tried to laugh, but it was a shaky and nervous one. How did this "friend" come up to the balcony? Who was he? How did he know me? What if he was an enemy? There were so many questions about this person I didn't know. Could I trust him?

"I can see you're scared. There really isn't any need to be though." He gave a harsh bark of laughter. He put both of his gloved hands and drew me closer.

I roughly pushed away and screamed, "Get away from me!"

He held his hands away and took a step backward. I thought a bit and took a step closer. I brought up my hand lightning quick to his face but, he blocked my hand. "You always were cunning, Sammy. But this time, it's me who'll be smarter."

I brought up my other hand but he caught that one and released it. "Who are you and how do you know me?"

"I can't tell you that, of course. But I have something for you. Here," He put a piece of parchment in my hand. I could feel how old it was. I could feel every single wrinkle of it. I looked down at it. It was a piece of a map. It showed a dotted line leading to something. The rest was torn off.

"Can you at least tell me where this le-" I looked up and saw he was gone. I caught sight of a sliver of black material, as it vanished. I folded up the parchment and put it into the breast pocket of my shirt. I opened the sliding door quietly and slipped inside. Zelda had finally nodded off into a troubled sleep. I went to my bed and slept on it, keeping my hand over my pocket. I didn't know why but I thought this piece of paper was supposed to help me. Little did I know how important this small piece of parchment was.

* * *

End Of Chapter 3.

Sorry it took very long! I had loads of homework and my SAT'S passed by and my exams are coming up! So yeah.


	4. Daeth number 1

Chapter 4 – The Test.

Sorry for the big fat delay, I just had the biggest writers block. AND I had to rewrite this chapter because I had tons of viruses, bugs and worms that I didn't even know about. So my genius brother had to delete my Miscellaneous file where I keep every fan fiction of mine and more stories. Believe it or not. Well, I certainly got some reviewers, and I thank them all, and you all know yourselves! Thanks for waiting so patiently (Tries to avoid the pitchforks) Big thanks and back to the story, I'm sure you guys would want to read.

Outside the wind blew fiercely. Practically everybody was slumbering away, their minds full of dreams, and anticipation. Others watched T.V to work their nerves. And only one certain creature was outside, his violet eyes gleaming eerily. It was Mewtwo.

Much was a mystery about this pokemon. He had no friends, and as most students said, preferred to be the loner. He was psychic; that much was a fact. But he seemed to be vague about any of his answers if he gave any, and it was very rare when he contacted anyone using telepathy. His mouth never moved, not even to eat or chew because he ate with his mind. Nobody ever talked behind his back, because they feared that he would read their minds… only safely at home would they contemplate about him. He was a much worn out subject that was discussed.

Mewtwo floated just two inches from the floor, lazily floating up and down against the wind. He had required a room of his own, and had been denied. So, he shared a room with Ganondorf, Bowser, and King Dede. He found none of them as interesting as he'd hoped; only Ganondorf seemed of little interest to ponder. For the first five minutes he'd found Bowser to have a knack of kidnapping any girls he found hot, boasting about his flaming hair (which looked dyed and gelled) and how pointy his teeth, claws and spikes were. And he nearly set their room on fire trying to show them that he could breathe fire. King Dede, boasted about anything of himself, whether it was him choosing the best vehicle from _Kirby Air Ride_ or how beautiful he was and that no girl would ever not want him (Mewtwo thought he was going a bit far there…) And Ganondorf plotted against Link, Zelda and basically all of Hyrule. Yet Mewtwo knew that Ganondorf, held much power inside him. He also knew that Ganondorf practiced black magic and sold his soul to the underworld, just to get more power…

_Nothing here seems to be what it should be_. Thought Mewtwo, surveying the leaves and listening to howling wind. _Master Hand seems to be looking for the right people, however I don't seem to be what he's looking for… or I could be wrong._ Deep inside, Mewtwo knew he was fooling himself. Then he realized how much this "test" mattered to him. Mewtwo never lied to himself before; lying to yourself meant hope, and hope lead to wishful thinking and dreams; two things Mewtwo knew could destroy you, or lead a successful life. Yet, he did not like taking risks, so he only stuck to facts. Except now. In his mind he sighed, he did not even understand half the things that went on his mind; it was how he was cloned, how he was made. He gazed at a dark, cloaked figure leaping away on everyone's balcony swift as a cat. Soon he was gone. He was a male human; that was for sure.

Mewtwo's eyes swam across the place. He sighed outwardly this time, and finally turned toward his room, disappointed that his quiet time did not clear his mind.

¤§¤§۞§¤§¤

_Sunlight falls down on my golden hair_

_Warming my toes that are bare_

_Yes, I am a maiden who is really just fair_

_Meant for a handsome, brave elf; we made a pair_

_Then a sprite stole from mine, his eyes_

_Smiling, cooing, laughing with her lies_

_Oh Nayru, she used her all of her spells_

_And from then on, I knew she never meant well_

_She rent my heart, tearing it to shreds_

_When I get revenge, that'll be the day she'll dread_

_She'll be afraid to even eat a simple piece of bread_

_And her brain and heart will be just like lead_

_This is the poem of a sad little maiden_

_Tears falling down, problem laden_

_Oh Nayru, please get me through_

_Make up a curse, that'll ban her from woo._

Peach read the last words and looked up at a slumbering, unhappy Zelda. She reread the poem. It looked like real business. She stared around the room. She wasn't really a morning person but today… well today seemed to be full of surprises. Suddenly feeling inspired, she wrote back in verses:

_Oh calm one, princess of Hyrule_

_Your eyes are nothing less of the prettiest jewel_

_The sprite which you speak of is only a mule_

_Don't let her spark your revenge, don't let her be your fuel_

_She isn't worthy of your royal gaze_

_She's making your mind be in a confused haze_

_Her mind isn't that difficult to read, it isn't a maze_

_Hear me out; prying will leave you in a daze_

_Oh princess of Hyrule, eyes of jade_

_Don't let your heart die, don't make it fade_

_I know her foul deed, and she will be paid_

_But for now, be the nice, calm maid_

_You have heard advice from princess of Mushrooms_

_Who spends day and night shopping; the one who grooms_

_Who doesn't let people sweep her mind like a broom_

_And who'd never let her friends turn the shade of angry; maroon_

Peach had never been good at poems, so she was quite surprised how the words came flooding into her brain. Even though the attempt was quite atrocious, it packed meaning, as well as rhyme; something she hadn't _ever_ achieved before. Her dastardly attempts at poems never made sense if they rhymed, and even if they rhymed they'd never made sense.

Yawning, she pulled her hair into a messy bun, slipped into a pair of her princess shoes. She stretched her arms out as far as she could, once she got out of her room.

"The exercise room is one floor down, take three rights, and two doors left." Said a vaguely familiar voice.

She snapped her hands to her side and spun her head so fast, her neck cricked. The first thing she registered was the fiery, flaming, messy red hair. Then she noticed his hazel eyes. _Roy_ she thought. She only knew him because of he was a much worn subject talked among her fellow gossipers. All had cooed around him, flashed their flirty smiles, and made bold comments about him. _"Your hair is so hawt. Can I stick my hands in?"_ They had actually said hot, as hawt, she recalled. At first, she'd tried the same thing. But then she found out that Roy would probably never give her much a thought, because she was acting like a jerk like other girls. She often thought that he sometimes must have thought that he found being drooled over a bit tiresome and annoying. So when she'd thought that she abandoned the thought that he'd notice her and talk to her. The only time he ever did talk to her was when he passed her locker. _"It's Peach, right? Were you almost this much into shopping?"_ and she'd replied like a dim-wit, _"Yeah, Princess Peach. And I do a lot of shopping, thank you very much."_ He'd raised his eyebrows at the "princess" part and smirked like that was an inside joke although he didn't comment on it. She'd heard his friend, Marth had howled, when they walked away. _"Well bye "princess" Peach."_ He'd said, emphasizing on the word, making her feel dorky.

"Ha ha, very funny." She sarcastically replied. "That's the place, you'd want to go. Looks like you'd need to go there too." She added before she could actually think on it.

He stared at her for a moment. An awkward silence fell upon them. Peach was the first to avert her eyes, turning red. "Sorry." She said.

"For what?" He asked mildly.

"Nothing." That sounded stupid. Why did she have to go even redder? "For, er, dissing you."

His eyebrows rose. She found that she hated when he did this: it made her feel weird. "Dissing me? Suuure… anyway, I was waiting for Link but he seemed to break his promise. _Again._" He rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Peach wondered if Link was spending time with Saria. And she was about to mention this to Roy, as he was one of his best mates, when she received a shock.

"So, well, would you like going down with me?" He asked, casually, examining his fingernails.

_There's a first time for everything_ she thought. "Yeah. Sure. Okay." Was all she could manage to get out of her mouth as casual as he. _She was actually going out with a guy whom everyone wanted to go out with!_

She walked up with him to the elevator. She pressed the ground floor. It was a very long way down. "So, um… how's life?" She asked him, trying to get rid of an awkward silence between them.

"Fine." She was surprised that his answer sounded strained.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, noting him holding his breath, and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Its just well, I'm afraid of… elevators." He replied with a big effort. "They're so small, and well if I'm with people I guess it doesn't look like it, but I'm scared of elevators. When I was small I got stuck in an elevator."

"I'm a person, and I can tell you're scared."

"You're different."

She didn't reply but a tinge of pink appeared on her cheeks. Was she just hopeful or was it that, that phrase was only to close friends? She tried not looking pleased.

The elevator doors opened, and as Peach glided out after a stumbling Roy she said in an amusing tone, "We could have easily taken the stairs if you told me."

Roy flushed and retorted, "Sorry, well I thought that _your Highness_ would find going downstairs much too hard." He said it with much sarcasm in the "your highness" part.

It stung when he said that. It was just like he slapped her across the face. What had she said to make him say that? The exercise remark? She couldn't find it in her voice to say back anything. Her head bowed, and she didn't desire to sit next to him in the dining room. She was barely aware of three other people sitting when she heard a voice she dreaded.

"Oh, it's you, Peach. Did you follow Roy here because your other losers of friends dumped you?" It was Saria leaning right against Link. She felt a surge of anger.

"At least I _have_ friends." She told her bitingly. "Real friends who'd stick up for me."

"Oh, but I don't see anyone!" She said in a falsely sweetening voice. "Oh yeah, I forgot, your imaginary friends, right? Well, unfortunately we can't hear them."

Peach's lower lip trembled from anger. "You know what; I don't know why you even snubbed Zelda for a piece of dung. No wait, lower than a piece of dung." She said addressing Link now. "And I've just realized that I don't belong at this table. I'd rather sit next to my _imaginary friends_. I see how much of jerks you all are. Link is stupid and doesn't choose his friends right. Roy likes making people look stupid and making fun of them. And he also likes thinking he's the best guy in the world, and Saria is jealous prat, and Marth- Marth is probably the only one here who I don't have anything to criticize on because I haven't heard anything from him yet. Good-bye." She abruptly got up, feeling tears stinging her eyes. Link was protesting but a strange buzzing noise had filled her ears and she slammed the hotel doors shut, now thoroughly mad with them and herself crying.

She didn't know where to turn. There was nothing for her. Tears fell one by one like salty raindrops, each falling down in a perfect shape. She was barely aware that the buzzing in my ears had stopped and that all she could hear were her choked sobs. She wasn't even aware that she was sitting in a deserted alleyway. She felt hot, sticky and awkward. A lonely silence filled her ears, occasionally erupted by her frequent hiccoughing.

"Pi?" A timid squeak filled the alleyway. Peach didn't even look up. She knew who it was. The electric yellow mouse stood at the beginning of the alleyway, his large round eyes held a polite curiosity. He inched timidly toward me until she felt his furry warm body against her legs. Slowly and tentatively, she reached out and put her hands around his middle and brought him in between her scrunched up thighs and midriff. Then, she sobbed her heart out on him, while he stayed put like the cuddly pokemon he was. He blinked comfortingly at her splashing tears and settled on her lap and waited patiently for her to stop.

Fifteen minutes later another figure stood in the alleyway. Peach, who was still sobbing, didn't know who it was, nor did she care. But the figure inched closer and closer. Peach felt rough hands on her chin and felt it being jerked up. She stared at the face in front of her. It was covered, except for his blue eyes and his lips. Pikachu growled, electricity flying from his cheeks. Peach frowned; Pikachu knew whom this person was, and knew him as a threat.

"Who are you?" She said, her tears drying up instantly, replaced by fear.

"One who looks for trouble." He said grabbing her by the wrists with an iron hard grip. She screamed in fright.

"What the hell are you doing?" She swore fluently at him but he just laughed.

"Babe, you know how to curse but that won't save you from me." He said, forcing her harshly into the wall. She gasped, as her back hit the brick wall. She tried to glare at him with anger, but all it showed was fear. He ripped her princess gloves off and partly some of her bodice and then he gave a yell. Electricity coursed through him. He kicked Pikachu who was the source of the electricity, and the cuddly but dangerous animal thudded into the brick wall and did not stir.

"Pikachu!" She said trying to reach him, but he caught her hard around the waist, forcing her to the corner. She turned her head away, feeling hot breath on her. She shut her eyes, then opened them. She had to get out of here! She kicked him with all her energy that she had. He moaned and fell to the floor.

"Why you filthy little b-" He said uttering the curse word. Peach ran to Pikachu and began to run for her life, but something rough and warm closed around her ankles, making her trip to the floor. She struggled to get away from him but suddenly she found him on top of her, and her arms pinned to the floor. She screamed so loudly that if she could, she would have clamped her own hands over her own ears. The last thing she saw was another figure in the alleyway. Her pulse quickened. The man on top of her swore, and pain erupted in Peach's head, white light filled her head as she heard somebody yell and she knew no more.

¤§¤§۞§¤§¤

_**Peach's POV**_

I blinked once. The whole room was in a haze, like the boundary lines disappeared. I blinked again. It was clearer, and I noticed some figures in front of me. I blinked once again and everything cleared.

Zelda, Marth, Link, Saria, and Samus's heads all swam into vision. Everybody looked relieved. Everyone but Saria.

"The damsel in distress has woken everybody, let's have a celebration and feast." She drawled expecting Link to laugh. He did in a nervous way but immediately stopped when Zelda eyed him with a chilly look.

"M-my head hurts. What's going on?" I asked, trying to sit up, but Samus forced me down again.

"We rescued you." Link said, his blue eyes searching mine, "Marth and I, I mean to say." He added quickly.

Something was nagging me but I when I tried to rack my brains for what it was, it made my head hurt more. I reached up for my head gingerly and touched it. I groaned and sank further into the pillows.

"Did you catch the guy?" I asked, trying to find what was bugging me.

"No, he got away. But we tore off the bit of stocking he was wearing on his head, and we also got this on your clothes." Marth said, shifting on his left leg. He held out a black piece of cloth and a vial. A number of things fell out as well. He scrambled to pick them up. When he crammed a piece of black fabric, he straightened up and showed me the cloth. It was made of thick soft velvet. That would mean that this person, whoever he was, either had to be rich or stole it from someone rich. The next pieces of evidence were several pieces of bluish hair. I thought about Pikachu growling, and was familiar with who this was.

"Whoever belongs to this person is anime." I mused aloud. "And is an enemy of Pikachu." Then with a jolt I realized what was nagging me. "Where is Pikachu anyway?" I asked everybody sharply.

"He's unconscious. You'll be able to see him once you recover from your wounds." A flat voice came from the door.

I looked up slowly, knowing and hating the voice. I saw his fiery red hair to complete who the person was. "Roy." I said in an equally flat voice, looking at the teen that was leaning against the doorway casually, his hands shoved in his jeans pocket.

"Yeah, I decided I had some time to spare to check on a girl with minor wounds." He shrugged.

I flinched at the word "minor". The wound I had received didn't feel minor. Hadn't I passed out because of my "minor" wounds? I didn't reply, but chose to ignore him.

"Well, can I see him now?"

"Did you not hear me?" Roy said in an annoyed tone, "You're too weak."

"You know what you stupid, supposed to be _general_? I'm stronger that you think. So don't go ordering around people you don't know. Only I know how strong I feel. Even if you are a general, you should think twice, commanding people who weren't even placed under your command." I retorted back.

"I know a weak person when I see one. You yourself don't know how much blood you lost. I, as the "supposed to be general" have seen bloodshed. I've fought in more wars you have. I've seen people dying before my eyes. So don't you go lecturing me about weak people!" He barked back.

"Hey, mate. She's still weak." Said an alarmed Marth, who was restraining Roy from hitting me." Samus had her arm on my arm, putting pressure against it. "C'mon, guys, let's get out of here." He led everyone out. As Saria passed me, she pinched my arm hard and grinned nastily at me. She made a rude hand gesture and with a final flick of her hair, she went away.

I looked after them, suddenly feeling lonely. The only people in the room were Roy and I. I did not want to be in the same room he was. What were the odds he was going to attack me? To protect myself I had to do something. "I'm sorry about acting like a jerk to you." I blurted out.

He looked at me surprised. His eyebrows became one as he frowned at me. "Trying to make me feel guilty now?" He snapped, crossing his arms.

I noticed a big scratch on his arm. "No. I don't want to be the enemy. That's all." I told him so softly, I wasn't even sure he could hear me. "How did you get that scratch on your arm anyway?"

He looked at me, and uncrossed his arms as I asked the question. Like he wanted to conceal it from me. "I was leaving my room, when I crossed the shelf. I scratched myself against it." He said, his grumpy mood vanishing. He looked alert now.

"Oh." I didn't entirely believe him, but I didn't want to be alone with a person who could kill me.

I looked around casting for a subject.

"So, did your rapist er, do anything to you?" He asked, trying to ease himself from discomfort.

"Apart from this?" I gestured at my bandaged head, "He did swear a lot, and his voice was deep, like it matured but it wasn't rough, it was smooth. He called me some stuff. I kicked him that's why." I explained.

"Did he inflict any damage though? Apart from your head. Did he fulfill what he wanted to?"

I realized what he was asking. "He… well… He tore some of my clothes off." I blushed when I said this.

He looked at me. He saw me blushing. He didn't say a word but his cheeks deepened to a maroon color. He looked at me angrily. That moment I wished that I could teleport. His gaze was so frightening that it could kill. Then he angrily stomped out of the room, banging the room shut. I looked after him. Then I settled for a fitful sleep. And I had a dream.

_Peach screamed in agony as the rapist slapped her hard across the face. She looked at him and wrenched off his mask and gave a frightened gasp. It was Roy._

"_You?" she asked incredulously._

"_Me. But it's not what you think it is." He said eyeing me with a saddened look. Then he put the mask on her head gently and walked away._

I woke up with a sick, dry taste in my mouth. I walked up, feeling refreshed. It hurt where my head was, but it didn't feel as bad as before, though if I turned my head too fast or too far it would hurt me real bad. I walked away from the ward. I was aware that it was around 1:00 AM. I walked against the gentle breeze that played with my hair. I wrapped my arms around myself. It was cold. An unknown presence watched me like a hawk eyeing its prey. The amusement park was deserted, making it look like a ghost town. I became very uncomfortable. Why had I stepped out at a time where the place was deserted? All the shadows there played around my eyes. Then, a dark figure, swooped down in front of me. I stifled a gasp and nimbly side-stepped him and ran for my life, he closely tailing behind. I saw the hotel in front of me. Gasping, I pulled the handle and raced to the elevator. I pressed the button to go up three times.

"C'mon you slow dumb thing, hurry up, hurry up…" I could hear him running through the doors. I jabbed at the elevator doors pounding the button. Finally it was open. I raced inside pressed the twentieth floor button. But a gloved hand shot in, just as the doors closed. My heart raced and adrenaline pumped through my veins. He walked in as the doors closed. I squeezed to the end of the elevator.

"You have something I want." He hissed into my ear, the breath hitting my ear with a chill. "Now give it to me."

"No! I will never give you it! Ever!" I cried.

"Then I will take it from you." He growled and began groping for me.

As soon as he did, I ripped off the lower part of his mask revealing white skin. He yelped back and stayed away. I didn't dare go near him either. And once the elevator doors opened, I ran as quickly as I could, jammed the card key into my lock and opened the door. On the bed were Zelda, Saria, and Samus, looking worried.

"What happened?" I asked, panting and clutching a stitch in my side.

"You look a mess!" Zelda said. She grabbed me and set me on the bed. Her hands glowed a soft green and she held my hands for five minutes. Slowly, but surely, my fear drained, the sticky hot sensation subsided and I appeared as calm as ever. "Thanks for writing that poem." She added so only I could hear. Then aloud she said. "What happened?"

"Where's Malon?" I asked after telling my story to them. I hadn't told them about my dream. I didn't want to, especially in front of Saria.

"That's why we were up late. We got a note, Peach." Samus said looking down at her criss-crossed feet. She was very white in the face. "Malon got into a ride accident along with many others. Oh Peach," She said the next words, like she didn't believe herself saying them, "Malon is… is dead."

END OF CHAPTER 4!

Mwahahaha! I did a cliff hanger! Now you must wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and-

Kirby: SHUT UP!


	5. Couple mysteries solved

5th chapter: The Test

So much happened last chapter and I gave you a cliffhanger. But, I won't start off where I left off. I will start off… someplace else…

All thanks to my fans! I love reading your reviews! If anything is wrong, don't hesitate to tell me… thanks!

The room was very dark. The man inside didn't like putting on the lights in his office; he preferred the dark as much as his pokemon, Persian. He was a tall man, full of greed and power. Most of his attempts at controlling the world were futile. It was on account because of his main team. They were foolish and incompetent. They all wasted their time trying to capture a stupid little mouse named Pikachu. It was highly annoying but if they did manage to capture it, that small pokemon could give them a lot of power.

A knock sounded from the outside. "Who is it?" He said in a cold, gruff voice.

"James, sir at your service." A man from the outside said. A kick was heard from the outside, followed by a cat scream. James squealed and added, "Jessie and Meowth as well, sir.

The man groaned and rubbed his temples; he didn't want to see them right now. Then he reconsidered and said, "Fine, enter. But it'd better not be bad news."

They entered. James had bluish hair that went to his chin. He had soft, blue-gray eyes, and wore a thick velvet hooded cloak that obscured his body. He wore leather black gloves and rubber boots.

The woman would be beautiful, were it not the mad, power-hungry gleam in her hard emerald eyes. She had long bright red hair, and pink lips. She too, wore a black hooded cloak. She wore fingerless rubber gloves that went to her arms and high-heeled boots that went to her knees.

A small figure was in between them. He was inhuman. In fact he was a pokemon. He had white fur and gleaming silver claws. His cat eyes were abnormally big and eerie. Fangs protruded from his upper lip. At the tip of his curled tail was a brown tip. And his feet were brown tips as well. Whiskers protruded from his face at somewhat odd angles. What was really strange though, was the gleaming nugget that was stuck on his face. People called his species Meowth. And all Meowths had golden nuggets at the top of their heads. What set him apart from other Meowths and all other pokemon was that, unlike them, he could speak English.

"James blew the whole plan, Gio." He spoke to the tall man. The tall man's name was actually Giovanni but Meowth called him Gio. If a human had dared called him that in front of him they would never be the same again, physically and emotionally. But Giovanni had a soft spot for cats.

Giovanni narrowed his eyes in disgust at James who cowered in fright. "It wasn't my fault, boss! That girl knows how to fight! And then I almost had her when this one guy saved-"

"SILENCE!" Roared Giovanni. He slammed his fists on his the table so hard, the whole room seemed the shiver. James let out a tiny little "meep" and fell silent, as he slipped behind Jessie.

"I thought that you, out of all people would actually fulfill this job! But I see that a stupid, cowering slime ball cannot even take a simple piece of that map."

"If it's so easy," Said Jessie, before she could even think. She was so sick and tired of working for Giovanni, "Then how come you couldn't do it. Huh, _Gio_?"

She covered her mouth like she'd let out the most awful, swearword in front of her parents. "Forgive me Gio, I mean boss."

He stared at her. Then he relaxed. He put his feet on his desk and leaned backward, putting his arms behind his neck. "Perhaps I could. But then again, that's why I have you. I want that map piece from that girl! Meowth, you said that you saw a cloaked figure give it to a blonde-headed girl right?

"Right, Gio."

"Then, this time, get it from her." He added in a dangerous voice, "And this time, don't fail.

§¤§¤۞¤§¤§

**_Zelda's POV_**

"Malon… dead?" Peach, went an even starker white.

"Yes!" Snapped Saria, who had the blanket pulled up to her chin. She was very red in the face; Malon and she were best friends. "Don't say it again." A tear rolled down her cheek and onto the blanket.

Samus sat at the edge of the bed. She was looking out the window, muttering softly to herself.

"What is it?" I asked, walking up to her.

"Nothing." She quickly said. I frowned at her.

Peach ran a hand over her face, looking around. She seemed to have lost the desire in doing anything.

So many things had happened in just one day. Saria and Link seemed so long ago, and so unimportant now. First Peach almost getting raped, then Malon. To top it off, Samus was being so quiet and acting weird. I had nobody to confide into. Link was gone from my life. Peach had far worse problems. Saria was currently my enemy. Samus seemed to be the only one I could tell all my worries to, but she was really quiet.

An uncomfortable silence drifted across the room. Peach managed to get on the bed. She smelled like cologne. "You might want to shower." I told her. She just gave me a blank stare. Then she got up, as if in a trance and went into the bathroom.

I stared at the note that was on the table. It read:

_Dear Inhabitants of this room,_

_We regret to inform you that we had a big accident in the ride called, "The Tornado." Around 15 people died on the ride and 15 more severely injured. One of the dead was one of your room mates. Malon was one of the unlucky. If you wish to take part of the funeral, it will take place once everyone manages to complete "The Test." Once again, we regret to be the heavy burden of the news._

_Master Hand_

_Crazy Hand_

I practically memorized it. I felt so suffocated. I had never, ever lost anyone I knew personally. I began twisting the paper until it started to rip. I kept ripping up the paper slowly. _Malon was one of the unlucky…_And I saw Malon in many images. Malon comforting Saria because of something. Malon laughing at something stupid. Malon studying for a hard test. Malon crying. Malon sticking up for one of her friends. _Malon_.

I couldn't take it anymore. I sobbed into the pillow. I barely even saw Samus slipping outside to the balcony.

§¤§¤۞¤§¤§

_**Samus's POV**_

"How much more will suffer?" I asked myself softly, staring at the night sky.

"More than you think." Somebody said behind me.

Very slowly, I turned around and saw my masked man. I scrutinized him. It didn't make sense anymore. I didn't care about anything. I wish I never responded to the stupid invite. What if it were me next? I turned again, but he caught my arm.

"Listen, I heard about what happened. I'm sor-"

"NO!" I shouted at him. "No." I whispered now. "You don't understand how it feels to lose somebody. Somebody you spent a night with. Somebody you knew. I never knew how it felt either. I thought we could all live happily ever after." I looked at him squarely. "I was wrong." I choked out the last words. "I was wrong." I repeated." I jerked my arm away from him and turned to the rails, leaning against them.

"I knew Malon too." He told me. He was leaning against the rails too. "Malon would want you to mourn for her, but she wouldn't want you to give your life up just because she's gone. She'd want you to continue life."

That was true.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

This time his voice was lowered. "In time, you will be told."

"What if you're next?" I asked.

"I won't be." This time his voice was steely.

Another thought struck me. "How do I know you aren't looking for Peach?"

He looked startled at the prospect. "I would never, ever do anything like that to anybody, much less than to Peach."

"You know she almost got raped. How do I know it isn't you?"

"Just trust me."

"Why can't I know who you are?"

"Because…"

I looked at him. "Why?"

He seemed suffocated and trapped. He seemed hesitant. "Because… because I love you. And I'm too shy to reveal myself."

I was shocked. "You don't even know me that well."

"But I do."

"You've been stalking me?"

"No! I've seen you by your lockers, I see you with your friends. You don't know how much I just want to… to just say those words. But I've never even told my best friends who I like." He laughed bitterly. "What makes you think I'd tell you?"

I reached out to uncover his hood. I had to know. But he caught my arm swiftly and pulled it downward, as gently as he could. Then he leapt onto the rails. His eyes shone out from his hood. I couldn't tell what color they were. Then he closed his eyes, and darkness swallowed him up.

¤§¤۞¤§¤

_**Marth's POV**_

I opened my eyes, and blinked. It had been a long night. Thankfully, none of my roommates died. I put a hand on my hilt of my sword that hung from my hip. I shook my head, making my hair look casually messy. Once done with the bathroom and dressing up I went downstairs into the breakfast room. I saw Peach, Zelda and Samus all talking. Daringly, I walked up to them and asked, "Mind if I sit here?"

Peach and Samus looked up at me. "No." said Zelda.

"You can sit here, if you'd like." Samus reassured me. I looked at them, and then sat down. I sighed, rubbing my eyes.

"Had a long night?" Peach asked.

"You bet." I said without looking up at her.

I grabbed some already buttered toast and started chewing slowly. I looked at Samus and asked, "Where's Saria?"

Samus gave me a dirty look and nodded at Zelda's direction. I got the point. "Oh never mind, I remember." I said quietly.

Samus leaned toward me and whispered in my ear so softly that I could barely hear, "Link's comforting her. Nonverbally would be our guesses."

I frowned. Link would never ever do that. What was more; these girls had no clue what Link was going through. Did they even know that he didn't like Saria as a girlfriend? But Link didn't want me to tell anybody why he was spending so much time with Saria. So I wouldn't.

"Link, would never do that." I told her.

"How do you know?" Samus asked.

"Because he's my best mate, and I know that he isn't what you think. I know him better than you do."

At that moment the doors swung open and Roy strode in, with Pikachu at his heels. Peach watched them, her eyes determinedly on Pikachu.

"Hey." Roy sat down and Pikachu leaped on his lap.

Peach scowled and abruptly got up from the table. "Well, nice chatting, but I've got to go. Nice to see you out of the hospital, Pikachu. Jigglypuff and Pichu were looking for you." She paused to scratch the pokemon behind the ears, and then glided out serenely as possible.

"What was that all about?" Roy asked, trying to look bewildered.

"As if you don't know, Roy!" Zelda exclaimed, looking at him.

"What?" He asked. "What did I do?"

She sighed as though it was so obvious. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"The first time Peach ever saw you she had the biggest crush ever on you. She remembered the first time you talked to her. She had the biggest crush on you before the other girls started adoring you." Zelda told him.

"And then when yesterday happened, you began to be so rude to her. You made her cry, and at the hospital you made her feel like the biggest jerk. You broke her heart. Now she hates you for that. She hates you because you never gave her one thought. You thought she was just some other girl who liked you just because you were popular. No, Roy, she liked you for who you were. But she was wrong when you talked to her yesterday." Samus told him.

Roy snorted. "It's my decision who I like or not. I don't like Peach."

"Roy." I said sternly. "I know when you lie or not."

"Dude, I don't like that girl." He faced him squarely in the eye. I gave him an intense stare but said nothing. I crossed my arms defiantly as Roy sipped his orange juice in what he clearly thought was a dignified silence.

Worrying that Peach might be in trouble again, I decided to go outside again and look for her. "Well, I'm going out, so Peach doesn't go looking for trouble. Or trouble doesn't find her."

_**Peach's POV**_

I hated that stupid swordsman. I hated everything about him. So then why did I have this crazy urge to go back in and talk to him like a girlfriend would? I wandered around, looking for things that aroused my interest. I was about to go on a ride, but decided against it; Malon was one of the many things in my mind. A shadow crossed me. I stiffened, but stifled it, hoping my stalker didn't notice it. I wandered into another dank alleyway, hoping he would follow. This time, I was prepared. This time, I would think clearly. And this time, he would regret that he ever came to me.

I reached the end of the alley. I stood there, fidgeting with my turquoise ring. I waited for three seconds and whirled around, slapping the caped person with my hand as hard as I could. He was caught completely off guard.

I grabbed him by the neck of his cape and lifted him up jerkily, bringing him face to face with me. "Why are you stalking me?" I growled. "Tell me!"

I could see his bluish-gray eyes from the slits of his hood. To my satisfaction, they held fear. "Y-your map piece." He half stammered, half gasped.

It was my turn to be off-guard. "My map piece?" I asked as the hostility in my voice dropped. I looked him in the eye.

"Yeah. You got it from that stranger. That cloaked stranger on the balcony. Meo- I mean my friend told me. My boss needs it." He said.

"Who's your friend?" I said, the hostility returning back. "Tell me!" I shook him by his neck of his cloak violently.

"I won't tell you."

"Who's your boss then?"

"I won't tell you."

"Then I'll find out myself." I said, yanking off his mask/hood. I blinked at his face, and then pushed him away. "James!" I yelped the word out. But it had fit. The bluish hair. The gray-blue eyes. Pikachu's enemy. And Giovanni must've sent him. And his "friend" must have been Meowth.

"Where's Jessie?" I asked the teen who was sprawled on the floor.

"Not here." He mumbled at the mention of his girlfriend's name.

"And what is this map piece you were talking about?" I asked. That question was still nagging me.

He sighed. "Meowth saw a blonde from your room out on the balcony at night. A masked stranger gave her a map piece and disappeared. We know that you're a blonde."

I thought about it. The only person who went on the balcony at night was Samus. "Well, just to tell you, out of us five girls there are three blondes. So sorry, but it isn't me. And Meowth was mistaken about the room. Nobody has been on the balcony at night."

I kicked him as hard as I could in the shins making him wince as I went out. "That's for raping me."

I jogged to back to the hotel, to demand an explanation from Samus. I met up with Marth. "What happened to you?" He demanded, when he saw me sweating and a little ruffled.

"Explain… later." I panted. "Where's… Samus?" I asked.

"In the lobby, eating breakfast." He looked at me strangely. "Has your… rapist been at it again?"

"Later. If you want to know the whole story, come with me."

He asked no more questions but lead me to the lobby, where Samus, Zelda, Roy, Pikachu, and Link were sitting.

"Is something wrong?" Samus asked me, looking worried. "Did, it happen again?"

"Sort of." I sat down heavily and chugged down the whole glass of orange juice. Everyone was looking at me, concerned, including I noticed, Roy. I briefly explained what happened.

"Samus," I addressed her, ignoring all the questions bombarding me. Pikachu was looking relieved that I had gotten my revenge and knew who my stalker was. "You were the only one on our balcony. You have to tell me who that cloaked person was and what map piece James was talking about. Now." I added, as her eyes darted from side to side and she licked her lips nervously.

"All right." She sighed. "The first night I saw somebody _looking_ at me through the window. So I went outside. I saw a cloaked person and I asked him why he was on our balcony. He said that he needed to give me this. He gave me this map piece and said that it would help me in the future for "The Test." I didn't know what he meant by that. Then when Malon died, I went out again. He gave me some vague clues to who he was. He said he knew Malon. Sort of. He also said he knows me so well he," She stopped and blushed, looking down at her hands.

"What?" I demanded.

"That he knew me so well he loved me. And he said with so much passion that I believe him. And I trust him." She added.

The others at the table looked shocked at each other. Zelda avoided Link's eyes as he tried catching them. Roy looked all around the table. Pikachu's cheeks were glowing; a form of shock. Marth was grinning, like it was some kind of joke that she was making up. My eyes were transfixed on hers, waiting to hear more.

"Then?" I whispered.

"I tried finding out who he was, by pulling off his mask, but he stopped me from doing it. Then he left."

"I don't like the sound of this." I frowned at Samus. "What if it's somebody trying to harm you?"

Marth opened his mouth to add something, perhaps but Samus butted in angrily, "No Peach! If you heard him, you'd know that he's not somebody trying to harm me. He's…" She said the next words with relish, "Kind, gentle, and… If I actually knew who he was, I might actually love him back. I'd have to look into his eyes and to see if it was the truth. He seemed so sincere, even though he didn't even know if I loved him back. His voice seemed so… soft and too good to be true. Like silk water flowing down a glass window. That's how smooth his voice was." She carried on, with Roy, Marth and Zelda listening. Link seemed to pay attention to how much Zelda was paying attention to it. His eyes shone more than usual. A great sadness filled me. I and Link were somehow on the same boat. We were both rejected by somebody we had wished for. But was it I who created the mistake?

"I'm going back up." Roy's voice cut into my thoughts like a sharpened knife. I jerked my head up. "Does anyone else want to come?"

I abruptly got up the table. I didn't want to keep on listening to Samus's fantasy. It was too painful. Link stood up too.

I walked into the elevator, and as the doors closed I glanced at Roy's fiery head. I had a mad desire to walk up the stairs with him, but while I struggled with the notion the elevators closed and it was too late to go on.

An empty hole fit into my stomach. The elevator ride seemed to take so long. I slid to the floor, remembering the elevator ride with Roy. He'd hated elevators. I almost smiled, but then I remembered how embarrassing I acted. Like I was all that. No wonder he'd sounded so mean to me. He probably felt like an idiot and just to cover it up he acted mean. Tears leaked out of the corner of my eyes. I closed my eyes as the tears went passed my cheeks and tilted my head toward the ceiling. I opened my eyes and felt a weight drop in my stomach. Water was seeping in the tiny room on the sides. What was more was that somebody had shut the power off and the elevator was stuck on my floor. The doors weren't moving.

Panic gripped me. My tears dried up instantly. Was James behind this? I screamed for help as the water slowly rose past my ankles. I tried to go use the emergency phone but the tone wasn't working. I swore nonstop for a few minutes and by the time I stopped the water was at my knee. I looked around for escape. There was none. I pounded on the door, and yelled again. I slipped in the water. I got up again. It was up to my waist now, and I couldn't see any sign of escape. How would I get out of this? Would I die like Malon did? I took off my high heeled shoes and threw them at the door as hard as I could. It left a dent. I searched for the shoe. It was a good thing I'd worn those today. But the water had risen up to my neck and I'd soon have to start swimming. I tried to pry open the door with my shoe. It began to work but the heel broke off. Nevertheless it'd left a tiny hole, so that the water began to pour through it. It wasn't enough though. I searched for the broken off heel and began to try making a bigger hole. I was becoming tired of swimming; all my jewelry and my dress were weighing me down. I panted. I yelled one last time and it quickly became gurgled as water went into my mouth.

_**Roy's POV**_

"I'm going to go to the vending machines. Want to come?" I asked the troubled, good looking elf.

"Huh?" He looked at me, with his blank stare. "Oh no." He looked down at a photograph of an attractive girl. To be precise it was Zelda.

I walked out of the door and went down the lobby. That's when I heard a vaguely familiar scream from the elevator. Then it became gurgled. I ran toward the noise. I knew it was too late to call for help. I rushed down the hallway, gripping my sword. Then I looked at two elevators, wondering which held the person who had screamed. I then noticed a small hole in which water came out of. I unsheathed my sword and fit it between the two and began to pry it open. But my sword started bending. I quickly withdrew it. Then I stabbed at the door, hoping that the tip didn't touch the person inside. I focused all my energy in creating a hole. But that wouldn't work. So I concentrated on putting my sword again between the doors. I opened it slowly at first. Then suddenly the doors jerked open and icy cold water greeted me along with a blonde girl. She crashed into me, completely unconscious. I was knocked backward with her on top of me. I realized that it was Peach. I didn't know what to do. So I picked her up, from legs and arms, in a laying down position. Her hair dripped and she shivered violently. I pressed her to me more, so that she might stay warmer. Then I ran to our room. I knocked on the door hard. I swore when nobody opened it and fumbled for my keycard. Finally I managed to get it open. Link wasn't in there, but I saw a note on the table. I laid Peach down carefully on the bed and read the note:

_Roy, sorry but I needed some fresh air. It works wonders with a pressured, depressed elf like me. Meet you later, mate._

_Link_

I finally went outside. Peach needed to be warm. I obviously couldn't keep her warm, as she needed dry clothes. _Samus and Zelda_ A thought popped into my head. I ran downstairs to Samus and Zelda. Zelda stopped short when she saw me. "Wha…?"

"It's Peach." I gasped. "She's… Something's bad happened to her."

When they were in the room, Samus said at once, "I'll call Dr. Mario. He's on this floor." Then she dashed out. I looked at the shivering, bedraggled Peach.

"What can you do about her?" I asked, watching her eyes swimming uneasily underneath her eyelids. Zelda walked up to the other princess.

"What she has done for me." She answered in an odd, yet calm voice. She went on her knees by the bed. She closed her eyes as her hands emanated a soft red color. She placed them on Peach's waist and held them there. And slowly, yet surely her clothes and hair became dry once again and her violent shaking subsided a little. Now she was twitching oddly.

"Is that all you can do?" I asked the elf who looked at her friend. "Can't you do better?"

She looked at me in the eye. "Nay. That's all I can do. She has drained my energy from me. If I could do more, I would lose the ability to even breathe, and even then Peach might not make it. She has suffered much in a short time. Now she must recover in her space." Her eyes softened, "But your concern is touching."

I was puzzled by that. I did not love Peach. I just… needed to save her. Was I supposed to let her die? "I don't love Peach." I automatically croaked to her. I felt weird and unguarded when she looked at me like that.

She raised an eyebrow. "It's time for you to stop lying to your emotions, Roy. It is time to stop being proud." And then the door opened and Samus and a short, chubby doctor strode in.

After checking her pulse and a series of other things he looked around at us all dramatically. "Her pulse is somewhat irregular, and she's suffering from a nightmare which is depriving her of rest. That's what she needs now she needs to be relaxed. Also this; she must not be removed from the spot which she lies. Doing so could wake her up, and her consciousness might not allow her to breathe properly. I will tell the maids this for you. But don't disturb her in any way.

_**Peach's Dream**_

_I was walking through the trees, light and carefree. Like an angel. I smiled at the sunlight happily. Then I noticed a shadow. And when I noticed it, I also noticed the scenery of the twittering birds becoming cawing crows._ _I noticed the sun had disappeared behind some of the blackest clouds I had ever seen. They didn't hold rain in them; they were simply black. The trees suddenly lost their green and bushiness and became black morbid looking trees, like a warning of danger. Every life form had vanished, except for me. And those crows. I took a shallow breath, but I found I couldn't breathe. Frantically, it seemed like I was dying. But I was still alive. I suddenly noticed that on one side I saw Malon and a few other people I'd somehow recognized. The other side held, Roy, Zelda, Marth, Samus, Link, Pikachu and Saria, Mario, Luigi and a few other close friends. I didn't know where to turn. I was stuck in the middle. I wanted to run toward Malon and ask how she was. But the path leading there was dark and ominous and morbid looking. The path leading to Roy, Zelda, Marth, Samus and the other's was ominous too. And then I took a step toward Malon. My breathing was more muffled. I took a step toward my close friends. My breathing became easier, but it was hard taking those steps. Like Malon's eyes burning into mine prevented me from doing it. I looked over my shoulder and my eyes held sorrow for her. Then I took another step._

Wow! This is probably the longest chapter I've written. I think it is! Well, you know what to do. Review, review, review!


	6. The Breakup & the Map Pieces

Chapter 6

Ahhh… lessee I think I'm going to write some more. Ahh… I almost forgot the disclaimer (I wish I had!)

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the idea of Super Smash Brother Melee. Everything is in credit to Nintendo sighs

Okay, I have to clarify something: Zelda and Peach are 15 while Samus is 16. Roy and Marth are 16, while Link is 15. That is all.

_**Luigi's POV**_

I knew I had no idea to how Mario was feeling now. I knew how Mario and Peach were. There was no space between them. They weren't like boyfriend and girlfriend. More like very close sister and brother. I knew Mario was devastated when they had broken up but he had told me that it was better being friends than girlfriend and boyfriend. Although this year Peach and Mario had sort of gone their separate ways. So I often found myself alone because Mario spent as much time as he could, watching over Peach, or with Samus, Zelda, Marth, Link, Saria, and Roy. He tried spending time with me, knowing that I found it boring looking over Peach (who wanted to look at a girl in her bed the whole freakin' day!), not that I did it once anyway.

Often times I found myself with Fox and Falco. They let me hang with them. But I found myself lonely there because mostly Falco was spending his time with Katt. I mostly spent time with Fox. Fox was pretty nice to me. Sometimes I found it a bit boring with him talking about Krystal and fretting about what she thought of him. But other times he was pretty cool and definitely normal.

I spent with the Ice Climbers, Ness, and Young Link sometimes. But they were so childish talking over things like ways of catching bullfrogs, or some other gross kid thing. I knew I once was like them, but I had, like any other person, matured.

I tried to hang with Captain Falcon and his racing buddies, but if they weren't talking about racing, they were on about girlfriend related issues, and if not that, it was play wrestling; something I _wasn't _good at.

I sighed and looked up at a roller coaster. I was sort of irritated at Peach, before realizing that it really wasn't her fault. I walked around the place looking at the carousal which actually had sea horses. I had walked into an underwater themed place

"If it isn't the green lone plumber walking around like a sore loser." A feminine voice behind me said. I whipped my head around my shoulder. It was Saria. She looked like she was in the worst mood ever; I wondered whether she was PMSing or not and had to refrain myself from blushing furiously at the thought.

"What happened to you?" I asked ignoring her mean comment and noting her blotchy face.

"First my best friend dies, and then my boyfriend dumps me." The tears fell fast and thick like rain with salt.

She must've been referring to Malon and Link. "Link was your boyfriend? I thought he was just hanging out with you…" I asked, forgetting to be comforting.

"He was as close to a boyfriend as I'll ever get." Her head drooped in a sad way.

"Hey!" Said a voice behind me. I turned around again to see Daisy talking with Slippy, the toad (A/N: For those who don't know, Slippy is one of Fox's team. There are four; Fox, Falco, Slippy and Peppy)

Saria didn't say anything. "Hello." I politely said.

Daisy went to Saria and patted her shoulder, "Sorry Saria… About Malon I mean. I knew her too." She tried to hug her but Saria roughly pushed her away.

"Get lost you lesbian!" She shouted. "You'll never know how it feels to be me, because you never had a best friend!"

Daisy stared at Saria. Slippy was looking someplace else like he didn't belong there. I looked down. I didn't want to see this girl fight.

"I'm sorry." Daisy said quietly, "I never knew that Malon's death would turn you into a beast."

"Get lost, you ugly effing girl." She addressed Daisy angrily. Her hands were balled up.

"Saria!" I yelled at her, losing my embarrassed attitude immediately. "If anything needs to get lost, that would be your attitude."

She rounded up on me now and said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh Lui, hun, its okay if you take sides with Daisy. Because maybe once I'm gone you guys'll be boyfriend and girlfriend and make out for the rest of your sorry ass lives!"

That did it. I conjured up a green fireball, without knowing whom I was hitting and released it at Saria. She deflected it with water.

"You forget that I'm a sprite, stupid low-life plumber! I can do things with my elements in my forest!" (A/N: Actually I'm not sure if she can but I'm just making it up. Just saying so you don't comment on what a big loser I am. I haven't played Zelda so I don't know the story well)

Slippy muttered, "Let's go, guys. C'mon!"

But Daisy wasn't done yet. She went up to Saria and slapped her hard in the face (A/N: I never thought I'd be doing one of those slappy soap opera scenes). "Pull yourself together! Can not you see what you're doing? Your making your friends hate you!"

Daisy led us away from Saria who just looked mutinous at us but didn't say anything.

"Why does Saria hate you?" I asked Daisy, who was now white-faced.

"Ever since I was in middle school, Saria and Malon made up some joke about me being a lesbian. All because I told Peach that she should've picked out a more… er _showy_ dress for some party. I wasn't saying it in the bad way, but I wanted her to impress the guys like _she_ wanted! Saria and Malon have been torturing me about that. They even passed out these flyers saying that I'd said myself I was a lesbian. But soon, it was forgotten. Malon said sorry. But Saria didn't. She considered it a joke. I didn't like her. I've been avoiding her. Well… when I heard about Malon… I thought she'd be nice to me." She gave a bitter laugh. "I was wrong. Her heart is made up of stone."

"Well, not necessarily." I said hesitantly.

She raised her eyebrows at me but didn't reply. The clouds were thick with rain. Sooner or later it would begin to rain. "We should go back to our hotel rooms." I said.

Daisy nodded her head and followed me and Slippy.

_**Mario's POV**_

"Hey, Luigi. What's up?" I addressed my brother in green as I entered the room. "To be honest, watching over Peach wasn't exactly the most fun thing. I just wanted to make a good impression." I told him.

"Hey yourself." He forced a strained smile. He looked weary.

"What happened to you?" I asked concerned.

"Oh nothing. Unless you want to count, my brother deserting me for practically the whole day, finding people who are wrapped up in their love lives, and also finding out why Daisy and Saria hate each other." He said sarcastically. "Nope, today is the most cheerful day!"

He sighed and looked out the window. Fat raindrops began to fall. The only other noise besides the rain was Wario's snoring and Yoshi and Birdo purring together, sleeping contentedly.

"Well, I'm sorry." I said. Then trying to get off the subject I asked, "So why _do_ Daisy and Saria hate each other?"

He explained some stuff that happened in school. I wasn't really paying attention to what he said. "And, so now they hate each other?" I said once he was done.

"Yep." He said, helping himself to some coke on the table. "Oh, by the way," His face contorted into grimace, "there have been 5 accidents today. Only 2 people survived. And 3 are fatally wounded. But I heard rumors that Master Hand won't let us out unless we complete all the rides. I don't see any other way to get out of it unless-"

"Unless what?" I quickly said.

"Well more rumors as usual. They say that there are hidden map pieces around the amusement part, putting them together will reveal the secret as to why Master Hand is doing this." He sighed. "Mario, we made a mistake sticking our noses into this. Master Hand seemed nice, but in reality I think this "test" is supposed to be survival for the fittest."

"Did anyone we know died? Who survived? And who's wounded?"

"A whole bunch of pikmin and their leader and some other guys died. Anyway, Squirtle died too. And the people in the hospital are Waluigi, Shyguy, and Ludwig. You know, one of Bowser's henchmen?" He added quickly when my face twisted into curiosity.

"Who survived?"

"This little mouse pokemon Pichu and also this one puffball thing named Kirby."

"Oh."

"You know what?" He asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I think we shouldn't ride on these rides."

"But," I laughed, "We'll be stuck here forever!"

"No we won't!" He said excitedly. "Listen! We don't pay for stuff here right? Well, we won't run out of money and we get food here for free! So, if we can just wait it out-"

"Is it a risk other's will take?" I asked tentatively. "Listen, Luigi, I know people who don't care if they die in the process, they just want to go home. I'm not sure who will actually listen to us or not."

"Yeah…" He said slowly. "But it was just an idea, y'see."

He remained silent, taking a sip of coke. "I don't suppose you know a way to get outta here without risking our necks?" He asked me thoughtfully, after a refreshing sip.

I paused, letting the words sink in before responding softly, "The thing is, I think Master Hand intends us to suffer. It's like he wants to see who's supposed to be the most courageous of the lot."

Luigi had no reply to that, and he just stared out the window.

_**General POV**_

Peach's eyelids fluttered open. The only person in the room was Marth.

"You've been out for quite a while." He grinned at me. "We were about to force feed you, 'cause it's been around 2 days since you last ate."

"Two days?" She asked incredulously. "But it was only water I almost drowned in!"

"Yeah, but Doc thinks that some kind of thing was _in_ the water that made you fall unconscious." His grin changed into a grim line.

"Where are the others?" Peach asked, rubbing her eyelids and trying to sit up.

"They're trying to find some stuff about this place. Ever since Malon died, there've been lots more attacks; people are getting desperate." He looked around. "They say that Master Hand won't let us go until we've done something. I'm not sure what it is."

"Oh." Peach twisted her turquoise ring around. "Did you know who filled the elevator with water?" She asked quietly.

Marth sighed. "We thought you'd know, seeing as you were in the elevator. We know it wasn't James."

Peach looked down again.

"Something seems to be troubling you." Marth said.

"Yeah." She continued in the same quiet tone.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing really."

"Okay then." Said Marth, unconvinced. "You know I'm surprised you haven't asked who rescued you."

"Well, who found me?" Peach asked.

"Well…" Marth looked at Peach intently, "I did! I was walking upstairs to see where R- I mean my friends were and I heard you scream."

"Thank you Marth. You saved my life." She looked at him and smiled for the first time. Then she looked out the window, as if trying to forget something. Marth frowned.

"Something really seems to be bothering you." He said.

"It's really nothing." She stammered.

"C'mon, tell me!" He grinned again. "I won't tell anyone!"

Peach finally sighed and said, "Okay then. Sometimes, do you get the feeling that your hopes are crushed? Well… I thought it was Roy who saved me. I don't know why, I had a feeling he did. Then well, I mean it's not like I appreciate you saving me or anything," She added hastily, "Its just that, I saw a sword poking in the doors. I thought it was Roy, rather that you."

"Oh." Marth looked away, wishing he hadn't asked about what was worrying her.

There was silence between them. The corners of Marth's mouth were twitching.

"Something seems to be troubling you." Peach said. "Tell me, I won't tell anyone!"

Marth looked at her. Of course he had to tell her, she had told him her little trouble. "Well… I- I think I'm in love."

Peach's eyes glowed fervently at this piece of new gossip. "Huh? In _love_? Oooh, who?"

Marth shifted uncomfortably, "With- with, Samus."

Peach's eyes stopped glowing. "B-but, I don't think she loves you. She's totally into that other dude who keeps visiting her on the balcony."

"I know." He whispered, more to his hands that were upturned on his lap, than Peach.

Peach looked mortified, "You aren't going to hurt him are you?"

"Huh?" He gave a bitter laugh, "Oh no way. I'd never break Samus's heart." He seemed very distracted. "I'm going to go tell everyone that you're finally awake again. In the meantime get some food." He got up and gestured at the table beside her.

Peach watched him go; wishing she hadn't asked what was troubling him; He scared her. But she'd given Marth her word not to tell anybody.

She helped herself to some fruit, contemplating what to do. She managed to get up. _I need to brush my hair_ she decided, looking at the tangles in her hair. It was a hopeless mess. After brushing (for a very long time) and using the bathroom she went and changed her clothes.

After that, she straightened her pillows, folded her blanket neatly and opened her window. She was full of excitement. _I'm going to see Roy!_ Her heart exploded, before it sunk like a rock somewhere in around her kidneys. _He doesn't even care about me. He doesn't give a crap about me…Should I just forget even loving him? He broke my heart._ And the thought of that made her clench her fists tightly as angry thoughts filled her head.

She turned on the TV, but whatever channel it was, it was always on a love scene.

"Oh, John, please marry m-"

_Click_

"George, I have to go now, but I'll never forget-"

_Click_

"Katrina, I'll never desert you. Ever."

_Click_

"Stupid channels." She growled at the TV, wishing she could break it, as kissing scenes and hugging and love words filled her brain. Finally she shut the screen blank and turned on the radio.

"And now we have a Greenday marathon. Here's Whatsername!"

_Thought I ran into you down the street_

_Then it turned out to be just a dream_

_I made a point to burn all of the photographs_

_She went away and I took a different path_

_I remember the face, but I can't recall the name_

_Now I wonder where whatsername has been_

Peach grimaced. Although she would've liked hearing the song earlier, she didn't want to hear it now. She tuned into another station that was already in the middle of a song.

_Oh no, no, no_

_Don't funk with my heart_

_I wonder if I take you home_

_Would you still be in love, baby?_

_In love, baby?_

(This is from Black Eyed Peas. They own this whole song called, "Don't phunk with my heart.")

"Argh!" She slammed her fist on the power button just as the door banged open.

"Oh-my-god-she's-alive!" Zelda shrieked in one breath, and Peach gasped for breath, as four arms were thrown around her neck. In the back she could make out three tall figures, and two shorter ones.

"We missed you so much!" Samus said, letting go.

"Yeah, I can see that." Peach grinned at the girls.

"Hey Peach." An Italian accented voice came from the back. "Its-a me a-Mario!" He grinned and she grinned back.

Luigi smiled and said, "Welcome back to our world Peach."

She smiled back at the green clad plumber.

Link and Marth walked up to me. Link grinned and said, "Damsel in distress, you have caused us so much trouble."

Everybody laughed except for Zelda who shrunk away; Link was standing right next to her.

"Don't go." Peach whispered only to her.

"Couldn't even say thanks to your rescuer." Said a voice from the back. Roy strode into the happy scene.

Peach's insides went cold. "Yeah, thanks for ruining the happy scene, my _hero_." She said sarcastically putting an emphasis on the last word.

Roy looked down at her. "So you can't even say thanks?"

"I already did, but since your _regal ness_ can hear it, I'll say it again. Thanks Marth, for saving me. I owe you one." She smiled at the handsome blue-haired teen in front of her. He gave an uneasy smile. (A/N: I know you're confused. Let me clarify something; it _was_ Roy who saved Peach. You'll find out why Marth lied to her later ;))

"It was… no problem."

"Happy?" Peach said, and turned her back on Roy the whole time they talked. He just stared at her back. A feeling he couldn't name overtook him.

After a while they all left. All except for Roy.

Peach was still determinedly ignoring him. After all, he hated her, now it was time for her to hate him. Roy put a hand on hers. Peach flinched and looked at him.

"Now what do you want?" She said, trying to draw back her hand, but half wishing it could stay there. Regardless, Roy closed his hand over it so she would look at him.

"I wanted to tell you for so long." Roy looked at her. Should he tell her what was on his mind the whole time? "I wanted to say…"

Peach looked into his eyes, not daring to believe what was happening.

"I think that you are so vain and that you think the Earth revolves around you, right?" He said it suddenly. He didn't have the courage. He was disgusted in himself. _You're a general and you've fought in so many wars. So why is this simple thing bothering you!_

Peach snatched her arm from underneath his, sighing mentally to herself before recollecting, "Oh ho, tell me something I don't know." She said in a bored sarcastic voice. "Anyway, please, just get off my back, will you?" Her tone changed to annoyance.

"I'm not on your back." He grinned nastily at her as his eyes locked onto hers. She held his gaze and finally broke away.

"Leave me alone!" She said.

"Boo hoo, or else?" Roy asked, mocking a small child's voice.

"Or face the wrath of me!" She exclaimed the idea suddenly popping into her head, throwing a spare pillow as hard as she could at him.

He laughed, but sobered up when the pillow bounced off his nose. Rubbing it while looking at her, he picked it up and hurled it at her. She caught it, laughing. He gave the slightest whimper.

Roy blinked; he'd made her laugh.

"For once you were funny." She smiled.

"Once? I'm always funny!" He protested. He got up and exited the door.

"Wait!" Peach exclaimed before even thinking. She caught herself just in time. She was about to say, "Don't go! Stay with me!"

"Ye-es, Mademoiselle?" He said seriously, though his eyes twinkled mischievously. He made a mocking bow.

"Um…" What could she say? She cast around for a subject. "I wanted to ask you something, before we had this conversation." She paused, making seem all dramatic. Roy's eyes no longer twinkled mischievously, but they held seriousness in them.

Peach smirked, "When do I get out of your room?"

Roy mentally let out a sigh before answering, "You'll get out in about two days, I think."

Peach had been stuck in Marth, Link, and Roy's room since she could not be removed because of the attack. Since it was improper for men to sleep in the same room a girl was in, Marth, Link and Roy had spent the days when Peach was unconscious in Zelda, Samus, Saria, and Peach's room. The girls in that room had slept in the room Peach had.

"_Now_ can I leave?" He whined in a voice that sounded much like Young Link's.

She had to smile. "Yep, you can leave."

He turned away and shut the door, a feeling of disappointment and happiness engulfing him as he left.

_**Roy's POV**_

Try as I might, I could not get the laughter of Peach's out of my mind. It kept rewinding and replaying. "Knock it off." I muttered to my brain, though I knew it wouldn't listen to me.

I didn't know where I was going, having a mental war inside me. I had discovered that mental wars were worse than real ones. My feet stopped at Peach's room. I opened it wearily. Nobody was in the room.

I slumped on a bed and turned on the TV. There was nothing good going on. I switched it off and decided to snoop around the room. I opened my bedside table's drawers. On the last one lay a tiny bound leather book. Shifting my eyes, left to right, I made sure nobody was spying on me before turning the cover. _Yra idym, _the cover read in gold letters. I turned it over, and as I did so, my eyes shifted to the mirror to my far right and I studied my reflection; secretive, and snoopy. Wonder if Peach'd laugh to that. Then I looked at the book. I looked at it surprised. _Mydi ary_ it read. So… it was somebody's diary! I fingered the lock. I wondered whose diary this was. I reached into my pocket and drew out my credit card. This often worked for poor locks. I slid it down the lock. It clicked. I opened the diary and flipped through the pages. It belonged to Peach! My curiosity aroused, I flipped through the book reading through the pages.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today was the first day of school. Not a bad day I suppose. I mean my teachers are nice except Chemistry. Argh… Mr. Gilly is the gayest teacher ever. He even told us at the start of class he was gay. He got into the weirdest mood swings. First he was all polite. Then he became angry because Malon dropped her pencil while he was talking. At the end of class we suspected that he was crushing on Falcon because he gave us assigned seats and Falcon was the closest to him and he kept asking him strange questions such as, "what do you think of gay people? Do you think they're cool? Are you gay?" By the end of class Falcon was in practically hysterics. Poor guy. _

_Anyway, there's this new kid who came to our school. Oh… my god… I wish I had a picture to paste here of him! He's so funny, and he's… well…handsome with this hair that looks like its on fire. Every time he walks by me I get this weird sensation. I'm not crushing, diary, I think this is love. I don't know. But I've had many crushes, and none have felt like this. Mom says I'm too young to love. But as Daisy says, age ain't nothin' but a number. I wish I could talk to him for once but I'm so shy! This is something that hasn't happened, in forever I suppose. Oh… diary, I wish he were mine!_

_Peach_

I ran my hand through my hair several times, shocked. Love at first sight? I thought Peach was one of those types who had to get to know you before she liked you. I thumbed to the last page.

_Dear Diary,_

_I am so tired, so weary, I can barely write. I still don't know who my rapist is. I've already had two encounters with this guy. What can he possibly want that he's so desperate? I can't be that good looking, if I am at all! And while mysteries swell around me, I cannot let go of Roy. Why am I bringing up this topic once again? Oh diary, love is like somebody with wings hanging on a cliff; if you get back on you could soar higher than you ever did or if you fell, your wings wouldn't work and you'd fall. Right now, I just fell. Roy asked me to go with him to the elevator one morning ago. Obviously I agreed! In the elevator Roy told me he was scared of being in an elevator and he also told me that I was somebody "different"! Oh diary, I wonder if he'd meant it? Was he just flirting with me like another girl? Or did he truly mean it? Anyway, I told him we could've taken the stairs. I suppose I hit a sensitive topic because the next thing that happened was that he started saying mean things to me. What did I do! And to top it off Saria was acting all smug with Link and embarrassed me. Then… I ran away from the table. And that's when I went to this alleyway and met up with my rapist. Marth and Link saved me though. I didn't see it happening, but they told me. I wish it was Roy who was my knight in shining armor. I try to forget about him, but I can't!_

_Peach_

I ran a hand down the blurry page. There were tears on it, and the writing was messy and tired looking… and distracted. But what had mostly drawn my attention were the tears on the page. I sighed. I had obviously caused this girl much pain. I wondered if she still was in love with me. I knew that it would sound very improper of me asking her. And yet a worse thought occurred to me: What _if_ I asked her? What if she didn't like me anymore and I looked like a complete fool asking? I gave a dejected sigh and my shoulders slumped. I suddenly became very weary, as if I had cleaned Fox's Arwing (That thing was very messy) by myself. I let myself fall backward onto the bed and closed my eyes slowly. And right when I did that I immediately fell into a troubled sleep.

_**Link's POV**_

I watched Marth brush his hair (It sounds weird saying a guy _brushing_ his hair, but with hair like his, who's to complain?) and for some reason my thoughts strayed to Zelda. I had already called off Saria's bargain; it had been too painful to see Zelda mad at me. But Zelda would not listen to my pleas, and I highly doubted Saria would tell her. The only people who would truly listen to my plight were Marth, Roy, Fox, and Falco.

"A penny for your thoughts." Marth's voice penetrated my brain, though very feebly.

I sighed. "You know what this is about, Marth." I turned to him and waited for him to speak.

He lowered his brush (Argh, why couldn't he use a comb!) and gave me a knowing look. "First of all, you should've never, _ever_ agreed to going out with Saria if you knew you were this madly in love with Zelda. You're killing yourself, Link." He spoke to me seriously now.

"I know, but I had to!" I protested against his accusing remarks, "I'm not the sort of person who'd… just… leave a situation like that alone. I _had_ to do it!"

"Yeah, but you should've known that Zelda can protect herself in situations like that. There may be times when you have to save her, but sometimes Zelda can be pretty powerful."

"I know." I murmured, picking a loose thread from my cap that was on my lap, "I should've realized that from long ago."

Marth regarded me for a moment. "I know you've learned from your mistakes. All you have to do is wait until the right moment for you to tell her about Saria's… thing."

"I know, but she's ignoring me!" I twisted the Linkin Green thread around my finger.

"She'll understand soon enough. Don't worry." Marth soothed and resumed to his brushing.

That was driving me crazy. "Can you at least stop brushing your hair!" I asked wildly, forgetting Zelda.

"Huh?" Marth asked; the brush froze in mid-air.

"It's driving me crazy! You're hair is shiny already." I snapped and lunged for the hairbrush.

He raised his arm to keep the brush from my reach. His grin was so wide it reminded me of the Cheshire cat. "What's so wrong with brushing my hair?"

"It's… not normal for guys!" I struggled to get the brush, but instead I lost my balance and toppled on top of Marth.

"Jeez, and they say _I'm_ gay." Marth rolled his eyes good-naturedly and pushed me off. "Ewww… Linky has the cooties!" He said in a high-pitched girly voice.

"Oh why don't you act grown-up for once?" I demanded, hitting him playfully with a pillow.

"Because," Marth said in a baby voice, his eyes all roundish while he fended off the pillow, "_Lonely_," He sang,

"_I'm Mr. Lonely _

_I have nobody_

_I'm alo-ooone_!" (A/N: this song is titled, _Lonely_, by Akon… I found it pretty funny when I heard it)

"Man, you're the best singer I've heard yet," I grimaced at his high pitched "alone" part.

"Thank you; thank you, too much really." Said Marth bowing with much dignity as he possibly could while doubling up with laughter.

"Guys…" Roy's tired voice came from a mass of blankets, "Some people are tryna sleep. In case if you haven't noticed, it's around 12 o'clock."

"Aw… ish okay Roysie, we forgot your beddy time was around 8 o'clock." Marth said in his "falsely sweet motherly" voice. Marth was pretty good at voice impressions.

"Oh, shut up." Yawned Roy, sitting up and rumpling his already messed up hair. He gave us a tired look. I lobbed a pillow at his face and –

"Bulls-eye! Where'd you get the skill from?" Marth praised, while Roy scowled and threw it feebly back at me; it landed on the floor.

"Well… Zelda persuaded me." I said, remembering the beautiful elf girl once again.

"Ah…" Marth cast around for a subject. "PILLOW FIGHT!" He shouted randomly. I caught it swiftly. I did not want to pillow fight.

"Sooo… I guess it's time for the rather dusty subject of girls again." Marth sighed, when he saw the I-don't-wanna-have-fun look. Roy sat up a little straighter, like a pupil who was interested in the subject.

"C'mon, Marth, you're the closest boy to a girl as it gets!" I complained as Marth hesitated to go into his lecture format.

"Thanks," He rolled his eyes. Then out of nowhere he jumped up and strode to the window and pulled down a pull-down sheet with complicated diagrams.

"Ehem." He cleared his throat in a very lecturely way, "This is the most complicated subject you will learn in this room." He paused for a dramatic effect and then said with a dramatic flair, "Yes, boys. _Girls_.

"Girls are… species that are totally unrelated to boys. They have worse mood swings and small things tend to tick them off such as dirty rooms, spending too much time with your friends and talking to your friends that are girls, if you guys are – what was the term? Boyfriend and girlfriend." He spoke to us let the words sink in and pointed to a picture with his little teacher stick which strangely appeared out of no where as well.

"Strangely, as boys mature like us now, we develop certain affection with these… er… species that seem to know much more of the world than us. However, most of the time, these boys do not know how to get them to develop the same amount of affection. Others, such as myself, observe these creatures and learn about them, so that we may be more successful in life. Yes Roy?" He addressed the redhead who was waving his arms like some over-hyper windmill.

"Well… Professor, not to be rude or anything, but can you teach us _how_ to charm these species?" He spoke as if girls were some newly discovered life-forms.

"Yes, I was wondering the same thing." I told him, rather timidly.

"Do not speak when it is not your turn!" He snapped. Then he brushed some of his hair out of his eyes and said, "Of course, you want to know how to charm them. To some, it is very easy. Others it is quite hard. And some just think these species are just a plaything," He spoke with a tone of disgust, "Girls are not supposed to be playthings. It is not a good thing to extract the thing that a man wants from a girl aka female and then just say that he does not love her anymore. As such goes to the females rule as well. They have things called sluts aka whores who do the same that those men I was speaking to you about, do. If you are certain you love a girl, not just how her appearance is, but who she is, you should never delay in telling her that. She could love you back too."

Roy squirmed uncomfortably. Marth seemed to notice and dropped his professor voice into a gentle voice, "It's not too late Roy. She still seems to love you."

"Huh?" He asked confusedly, a voice that didn't deceive us.

"Roy," We both said accusingly at the same time.

He sighed. "I don't know what's become over me. She's like… Drawing onto me!"

"You have to tell her!"

"Don't pressure me!" He retorted hotly.

"If I don't you'll be living hell." I told him severely.

"Well, it's not like I'm the one who has girl-related issues!"

"Please, gentlemen, don't be a pain in th' arse." Marth interrupted in a Scottish accent. But it did not make our tempers go down.

"Yeah, well, there's nothing I can do. Whereas you-"

"No. That's final Link!"

"You're just too proud!"

"I am not!"

"Shut up both of you!" Marth said which shocked us. He hardly looked this miserable and rarely shouted at us.

"What's up with you?" I asked, a little too hotly than I intended.

"Nothing's wrong." He said, though he gave a dejected sigh and his shoulders slumped.

"What's wrong Marth?" Roy asked; his temper vanished.

"Only that I just realized I'm not the best romancer in the world either."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You two aren't the only ones who are wrapped up in love lives." His eyes were sad-like.

"So… who's the girl?" I asked tentatively.

"You'd laugh if I said."

"Try me." Roy said.

"Alright." Marth took a deep breath. "No. I can't." He breathed out.

"What? That's her name?" I said.

"No I won't tell!"

"Give us a hint please?"

"NO! Fine!" He thought. Then – "You have heard of her. Talked to her even. Lot's of times now, I think."

"I know who it is." Roy said at once, triumphantly.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You say that we've been talking to her a lot right? Is she taken by another person?"

"Well, hard to say really."

"I know who it is!"

"Who!" I asked bemusedly.

He gave a smug smile than said, "I think she's the perfect choice Marth. Whatever gave you the idea we'd laugh at you?"

"WHO!" I asked, completely lost.

"Samus." Both said at the same time.

"Ah…" I sighed. Samus was probably a good choice. For Marth anyway.

"You've got to tell her, Marth."

"Actually, I think it's too late to." I said, thoughts flooding in my brain, "Remember what Samus said about her secret admirer? From what she said, she's madly in love with _him_."

"But for all we know, this person could turn out to be a joke, trick, or trap." Roy protested.

"Still… Maybe." I said and the three of us lapsed into silence, each thinking of a different girl.

_**Pikachu's POV**_

"I'm never _ever_ letting you take care of Pichu." I snapped at Jigglypuff, who's normally glowing eyes were downcast and shameful. Pichu was in a corner sleeping, with tiny bubbles coming out (A/N: In SSBM that's what happens!) of his nose. How could I have let Jigglypuff take Pichu on a ride that almost killed them?

"For the last time I'm sorry!" Jigglypuff retorted. "Anyway, I've got something that'll get us out the easy way!"

"Huh?" I asked. "What?"

"I found these tucked in-between the water-ride vehicle we were on." Jigglypuff brandished two pieces of worn out parchment.

I turned toward them excitedly. "Map pieces! This is like our ticket home!" My cheeks gave a little spark, accidentally hitting with Pichu, who sat up quickly.

"Pichu, we're going home!" I couldn't help telling her.

"Huh? Why?" She asked.

"Map pieces!"

"So we're going home without helping out the people here?" She frowned at me.

My insides squirmed guiltily. "Well…" I began. "I don't see how we can help…" I started off helplessly.

"Don't give me that! Remember the times you were with Ash? Remember how good of a trainer he was? You always used to help everybody out. Just because he's… gone… doesn't mean that you shouldn't lose your morals."

I thought about my ex-trainer. A tear welled up my eye as I remembered all the times I'd spend with Ash. Laughing, winning battles. Then suddenly, he just let go. He said I was free. I didn't want to leave, but of course I had to obey him. I didn't know why he gave up raising pokemon. I was even more surprised when he let go of me. What would Ash do in a situation like this?

Even as I asked this question, I knew the answer. We had to help these people. "So, what's your plan?"

Pichu sat up straighter, "Well, first, we have to find out where the rest of the pieces are, and then put them together. When we find out this secret, I have a feeling that everybody will be free!" Pichu looked excitedly at us then winced; she had accidentally sparked electricity and she wasn't completely in control of her electricity; Electricity still hurt her.

Jigglypuff looked at us, doubtful. "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Pikachu. What if we get hurt trying to get these map pieces? Take me and Pichu for example; it took a big risk to get those things, and we didn't even know if we'd get it or not."

"That's okay. I already know somebody who's got a map piece." I said confidently, thinking of Samus and her secret admirer.

"Really? Who?" Pichu asked excitedly.

"Samus. If I explain my plan then their little group could help us find these pieces!"

"I don't know, things can go terribly wrong, still." Jigglypuff frowned.

"Don't worry, leave it all to me." I said confidently and settled down for a nap, plans formulating at once in my head.

That was the longest chapter I've written yet! 18 pages on a word document! Okay, so anyway, you know the thing, review and tell me whatcha think. Constructive criticism is helpful as well.

Falco: rolls eyes She would also appreciate reviews concerning how much you adored the chapter.

Crystalicios: blushes furiously Oh pipe down ya little squirt!

Seriously though, if you found something dumb in the chapter, tell me.


	7. Collapsing & Love Confrontations

Chapter 7…

Disclaimer: I don't own SSBM… if I did, then it'd be much more lamer and crazier.

I had to clarify something else… I put some wrong information in my previous chapter – as foxdude so kindly told me, Krystal is one of the members from the Star Fox (I keep forgetting her because the only Star Fox game I _have_ and have played was Star Fox 64 for Nintendo 64: I haven't played Star Fox Adventures or that latest one that came out for Game Cube)

And I forgot to mention something else (sorry!): For some reason I can't put those line thingys that divide my comments before and after the chapter. Okay, so I can, but when I submit the chapter, takes it off and when I try to put them back up by reviewing the darn document I can't save changes, so no more lines for you until yours truly can find out a way around the line thing. Instead you'll see some weird symbols that divide the times of days and my comments before and after the chapter.

¤§۞§¤ (Hint: Those are the weird symbols I was talking about ;))

_**Ness's POV**_

I shared my room with Young Link, these two weird kids that always stuck together (they called themselves the Ice Climbers or something like that) and Kid Icarus (A/N: Those who don't know, Kid Icarus _is_ a Nintendo character who is basically a curly haired kid with wings and wears a white toga thing. Where he makes his appearance, I forgot, but he's a trophy in SSBM)

"When are we gonna get outta this thing?" Young Link complained, sprawled on his bed. He balanced the butt of his sword on his palm for as long as he could.

"Well…" Said Popo, the boy Ice Climber, "When we beat this test thing or whatever."

"Well duh…" Kid Icarus said and rolled his eyes. He sighed from the top of the TV cabinet (he had flown up there). Popo was stroking the smooth flat surface of his large hammer on the couch. Nana had her Gameboy Advance out and was playing some game while listening to us. And I was concentrating on the water in the glass. I was born with psychic powers and was practicing using them.

Nana turned off her Gameboy and commented, "It's raining."

The water that was in a clear ball just above Young Link's head fell on his blond head. "What was that for?" He complained, going to the bathroom and rubbing his silky hair on a towel.

"Sorry. I just…" I watched helplessly as everybody in the room laughed. Young Link did not seem to mind, however. He grinned at me and said, "You just caught the Master of Revenge."

"Oooh, I'm scared." I said sarcastically, "Whatever shall I do?"

"Run." Young Link said evilly and threw a pillow hard toward me. I quickly took out my bat and swung it. But in my haste, it went upward instead and hit Kid Icarus. In a flutter of wings he crashed to the floor with a, "OOOUCH!"

Nana and Popo howled with laughter, but Popo immediately shut up once Kid Icarus threw the pillow at him and hit him squarely in the chest. "Hoooh." The air was taken out of him.

"Was that a little too hard, little baby poo?" Kid Icarus imitated a baby voice then lowered it menacingly, "That's what you get for laughing."

"Oh pipe down!" Nana said. She hurled a pillow into the air and swung her hammer at it, making it smash into Young Link. "Whoops…" she said sheepishly, and a second later she received a blow on the head from Young Link.

"Don't mess with Revenge Master!" He roared, and beat his chest with his fists. "Ahhhiya-eee-ya-eee-yaaaaah!"

"Sorry Tarzan, but your reign has just ended." I said and hit him on the bum with my pillow. He swung on his back and hit the floor on his back with a thud.

"Oooh… you'll pay…" He growled and grabbed my hat off. I calmly snatched it back with my psychic power.

"Heyyy! That's cheating! No powers allowed!" He said, as he made a furious swipe for his cap that I was currently dangling in mid-air.

"How'd you guess I was using my powers?" I asked with mock surprise.

"Give it back!" He climbed on the bed and jumped for his cap – and missed.

There was a knock from the door.

"Get the door!" I hollered, while Young Link, Popo, and Kid Icarus, stood still for a moment, hearing the knock, then started cleaning the mess we made in our room at top speed.

Nana strode to the door, amid the mess, almost tripped on her parka and opened it. A maid stood outside with a sealed envelope.

"Is master Ness here?" She asked somewhat timidly. Nana wordlessly pointed me out. I walked over.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to block out the mess that we created.

"This is for you." She gave the envelope to me.

"Er… Thanks?" I said uncertainly. If the maid caught my questioning voice she did not say anything. She simply curtsied and went out. Nana slammed the door shut.

"How odd." I ripped open the envelope. Inside I pulled out a scrap of parchment. It felt like it was hundreds of years old. I held it to the light to detect forgery. There was none.

"I know what those are." Kid Icarus said in his hushed voice he hardly used. "Those are map pieces. They're like tickets to getting out of here!" He made a grab for it, but I held it from his reach.

"Whoa, you must be real lucky." Young Link said. "Who could've sent this to you?"

"I'm not sure, really." I turned the envelope wonderingly. It said MH on it. Master Hand sent this!

"Master Hand sent this?" Nana said awestruck; she was right behind me, monitoring my every move.

"I guess." I said, not knowing what to say. I thought it over. "There's something I need to do." I said, putting my cap on, the front on the back of my head.

"Wait." Nana said. "What exactly, do you plan to do?" She frowned, placing her hand on her hip.

"Yeah, where?" Young Link said. Popo stood with Nana, though he did not say anything.

"I'm going to find out anybody else who has it."

"That is the most stupidest idea ever!" Exclaimed Nana. "This is why you've got me and Popo." She gave a wide mischievous grin that was so wide it reminded me of a mischievous monkey

"And me!" Young Link shook his sword up fiercely and rather too spiritedly because a moment later it flew out of his hand and missed Kid Icarus's curly head by inches.

"Wait, what's this for?" I asked, not knowing where this was going.

"Looky here Ness. You aren't the biggest master of disguises. What are you exactly planning to ask everybody?"

"Um… Do you have a map piece, because I found one?" I asked shrugging, while Young Link scowled and picked up his sword.

"That's where you're wrong, mate." Said Popo, "People need these tickets. They will do anything to get a ticket – even steal. So… this is the plan." He, Young Link, and Nana huddled in and whispered their plan.

"No!" I said, my eyes all round, "That's intruding, that is! My mother told me-"

"Oh forget about your dearie old mother," Nana snapped, cutting whatever I said, "This is life now. You got to disobey here and there. Now do it!"

With that, Nana and Popo frog-marched me out with Young Link in the lead. One person, I realized didn't support me was Kid Icarus. His face was contorted in a mix of jealousy and fury. I instantly knew what he was thinking, and I didn't even need to use my psychic powers to read his mind; Kid Icarus was going to try and steal my map piece. My number one enemy was now rooming with me.

¤§۞§¤

_**Samus's POV**_

While Peach happily pointed out fashionable things and wondered if they were on sale, while Zelda sulked on behind us (she never was this sulky, but as she had Link related problems I couldn't blame her) I thought about my mystery guy. Who was he? Where did he come from? Did I know him? And most importantly; was he enemy or foe? The most part of me was firmly convinced that his heart was pure and that he'd meant what he had said. But wary doubts and cautions from Zelda and Peach made me wonder if he was just a clever actor.

"You could be a millionaire with the way you're thinking now." Peach said irritably as I stepped on her shoe by accident. She winced and added, "And these cost me a fortune too."

"At least they aren't broken." I offered weakly. I and Peach were like the two opposite ends of a rope. She was girly-girl while I was more tomboyish and preferred to do things that were ungirly. And Zelda? She could be in the middle of the rope, or be on a totally different rope.

"Tch, yeah! But you left a stain! And I forgot to pack my All-Purpose Stain remover." She sighed over forgetting to pack her thousandth and something item. "Anyway, what are you thinking about that was so much more important than my all designer shoes?" She asked.

"I was thinking about-" I stopped in mid-sentence, an idea formulating in my working brain. "Oh. My. Gosh. I think I thought of something!" And without explaining anything to Peach or Zelda I broke off into a dash, ignoring the pleas for information.

I dashed up to the hotel, found the room I was looking for and knocked. I hadn't seen him for so long, yet he was one of my best friends. Could my mystery person be him?"

The door handle opened. My heart beat painfully fast as it was pulled down and slowly it pulled open. Why was I so flipping nervous? _Oh maaan… please, don't make me wet my pants_ I thought nervously (A/N: For those of you who don't know, I "forgot" to mention this earlier; Samus has never had a boyfriend and never went into those matters, which is why she is so nervous). I hoped he was alone; I did not want to ask him about this in front of everybody.

"Hey Sam. I was wondering when you'd start missing me." A cheerful voice wafted from the doorway. My head shot up and looked into his somewhat-intense-but-still-cheerful blue eyes (A/N: I don't know whether this character has blue eyes or not, so I'm just assuming.)

"Hello." I swallowed.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Anything I can do for you?" He answered to my hesitant "hello".

"I need to talk to you." I said.

"Is something wrong?" He looked at me concerned but gestured inside.

I gave him a confused look, gave a noncommittal jerk of my head but went inside the room that belonged to Captain Falcon.

_**Fox's POV**_

"Meet… you… later…" I said, while I worded out my sentence to Bill (A/N: For those of you who don't know, Bill appears in Star Fox 64; He's Fox's longtime friend. I think he's a dog… I'm not sure I forgot. Fox and Co. have to help him and his buddies save his planet and during the game Bill helps Fox out as well), Slippy (the same Slippy that was with Luigi and Daisy who experienced Saria's temper) and Peppy (A/N: Peppy is Fox's father's friend in Star Fox. In Star Fox 64, Peppy is a hare who joins Fox's team. He joins because when Fox's father gets captured I refuse to think he's dead he manages to escape. But in this place, he's not going to be middle-age; he's going to be around 19. And of course Krystal is the newest member. She'll be around 15; same age as Fox).

"Hurry up." Falco said coolly, casually leaning against the doorway, his leg over the other with his arms crossed.

"Coming." I folded the note and placed it on a table and followed Falco through the door. Falco clicked his beak impatiently as he waited for the elevator.

"Let's not take the elevator." I begged. Peach was fresh in my mind.

"Whatever, this is taking forever anyway." He glided down the staircase, while I followed. Falco, of course, was acting cool as possible, while I had to make an effort to catch up.

We walked around trying to find anything interesting. "Hey." A voice said from behind me.

Though there was no sight of sunshine today (It was rather a gloomy, gray, cloudy day) it became pretty hot. "Hey Krystal." I managed to respond weakly to my crush.

"Falco, you still owe me money from that bet we made!" Katt (A/N: Katt is, I'm supposing, Falco's girlfriend. She helps the team out. Of course, you all know what animal she is; a pink kitty!) (Who was with Krystal) flung her arms around the blue bird.

"Uh… yeah, I forgot." He gave a sheepish grin, through her furry arms. He reached to his wallet and took out a 20 dollar note and stuck it in her short's pocket.

"Pleasure walking into you here." Krystal serenely told me, trying to ignore the fact that, Falco was flirting with a rather giggly Katt.

"Yeah." I said. _Add something else you nitwit!_ My conscious told me. I wildly turned to the first thing that popped to my brain which was a big mistake. "Nice weather." I gestured to the sky. _Good going, idiot_ I silently berated myself. The stupidest topic to talk about was the weather. And to top it off, it wasn't even good weather.

"Mm… I think it's a bit too gloomy for my taste." Krystal responded absentmindedly.

"I think it's sort of fits my mood." I shrugged, biting back to agree with her.

"Heard about those map piece things?" Krystal asked.

"Huh?" I gave her a blank look, before I registered what she was talking about, "Oh, yeah. Do you have one?"

"No. That's exactly why I and Katt were walking around here."

"Oh." I managed to reply.

"Why were you out?" She asked.

"Oh. Well, Falco and I decided to try out the arcades or the rides, if Falco was up to feeling brave." I said, trying to feel brave.

"What!" Krystal's mouth dropped open, "You'll get yourself smashed! Don't go on the rides! Please!" She begged.

"It's the only way to get out of here, and I highly doubt that I'll find a map piece. Anyway I'm not sure if I should or not."

Krystal looked at me silently. I tried not to feel pleased that she actually cared this much. I guess she did because what happened next was incredible.

"This is if you'll never come back." She told me quietly and then she put her hands (er paws) on the sides of my face and somehow our lips met. I didn't know how long it lasted but it was just like heaven. It could have lasted an hour, a day, even a second longer but we both had a mutual embarrassed feeling when Falco laughed out loud at us.

"Fox and his team member? That's some gossip!" He grinned (I don't know how birds do it with their beaks!) at a now blushing Krystal and me.

Katt was watching us. She looked completely agog at this piece of information and looked like she could hardly wait to tell her other chatty, gossiping friends.

"It was only… I might not be able to see you…" Krystal stammered out excuses though she was drowned out by a peal of thunder.

"I'll see you later." Krystal told me, as me and Falco turned toward the arcade for refuge.

"I hope." I said, and not knowing how to part, I just gave a quick pat on her shoulder.

¤§۞§¤

"How many tickets?" I asked Falco a couple hours later. I'd won around four hundred just off those chance ones (A/N: The arcade/ticket deal is this: you play those whack-a-mole weird games and however high your score is, you get a tickets. How much tickets you get, you trade them in for a prize; the more you get the more expensive the prize gets).

"Only 10." Grumbled Falco, fishing out his purple tickets. "That's hardly worth a pencil. Here kid, take these ten tickets." He shoved his small pile of tickets into a small kid's hand. He stared at it wide eyed.

"I'm not s'posed to accept things from strangers." He told us, his round eyes becoming bigger. Then he recited, as if by heart, "If I do, I might be molested, arrested, kidnapped…" He listed a whole bunch of other ways to get kidnapped; some that were harebrained.

"Done kid?" Scowled Falco after the kid was done.

"My name's Sam, not kid."

"Yeah but you are a kid."

"No I'm a cherub."

"You're still a kid." Said an annoyed Falco.

"But- but… Mommy says I'm an angel."

"To her you are." Snorted Falco. "Listen… _cherub_, just accept the darn gift. It's a gift from god. You got lucky. End o' story."

"You're god?" Asked the kid. "Whoa…"

"ARGH!" Falco said. "Just take the stupid tickets. GOOD BYE!" He roared into the poor kid's face.

_-BOOM!-_

"W-what was t-that?" Falco tensed, looking around. The walls were shaking. The little kid screamed and ran out, slipping between the teens' legs that were crowded around the exit.

"Get down!" I pulled Falco down. I looked up with fear stabbing my brain and hearts, like an icy dagger. The ceiling collapsed inside, with the walls toppling over the now sunken ceiling. I ducked and, with some difficulty pulled, a shocked Falco under a table. The whole thing collapsed; the chairs broke as easy as a toothpick, and the table wasn't a great shelter either. It caved in too. My eyes stung from the dust, and I coughed.

"Falco!" I wheezed, when I saw the bird wasn't next to me anymore.

There was a jagged piece of rubble cutting into my side. I hurt so badly, I wanted to cry out. I could not move; I was pinned. I saw a limp figure on the floor; groaning.

"Falco?" I weakly asked. Forgetting how weak I was, I tried to go to him. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I wriggled out, and reached Falco. "Falco? You okay?" My voice trembled as I spoke.

There was no answer.

My brain fogged up. I didn't know what to do. I became panicky really quickly as horrific scenes of death filled my head. I was alone on this boat. I jabbed my elbows up, punching the rubble out of the way. There was no air, only dust, and I needed to breathe properly. I saw a clear patch of sunlight, after working for sometime. There was a shaft of air. My brain cleared through a bit then I pushed Falco through the tiny hole. How he fit through, I'm not sure, but then again, I could barely think.

I pushed myself through the hole. I was free! I dragged Falco and sort of put him on my back. Staggering along the way, something blew into my face; something worn and old. When I inspected it more, it dawned on me that the impossible was now possible; I had a map piece.

¤§۞§¤

_**Capt. Falcon's POV**_

"What's wrong?" I asked the huntress who just watched me with a faraway look on her face. The last time she had looked this nervous was when she lost my F-Zero game and came over to tell me.

"Well…" She suddenly broke into a crooked smile, "Where do I begin?" And she launched into a thrilling tale of meeting some mysterious teen who had fallen in love with her.

"Are you sure you can trust him?" I asked tentatively, once she was done.

"With all my heart." Samus said; her eyes glowed fervently.

"Hm…" I said, "Well, you look like you've got quite a lot with this mystery guy on your hands!" I tried to lessen the tension and laughed weakly, "I wish I were that guy! The way you talk about him."

Samus looked at me intently. She was sitting right next to me, on my bed, one foot crossed underneath the other that dangled on the floor. She was thinking so furiously that I thought I could hear the wheels turning in her head.

And then she lowered her eyes unto mine. She drew closer. Samus? I mentally asked her. This wasn't right. I wasn't her boyfriend. I was just a friend, that's it.

"What the heck!" I said it more like a statement than a question and drew away from her, when she leaned into me.

"Aren't you?" She asked; she drew away too.

"Aren't what?" I asked warily.

"My mystery guy on the roof?" But Samus's eyes lowered down in disappointment, as she knew her what her answer was going to be.

"Sorry Sam. I have to disappoint you this time. I'm not that person." I told her quietly.

"But I _so_ thought it would be you!" She exclaimed and gave out a frustrated cry.

"Sorry…" I whispered. I didn't know what else to do, so I watched the tears leak down her face like a drippy faucet. I pulled her in and hugged her; in a comforting, friendly way.

But Samus brushed me off. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were rosy from her tear-stained cheeks. She walked to the door and paused, "There's an envelope for you on the floor." She said in a surprisingly unfaltering, strong voice. Then she opened the door, turned her head around to face me one more time. She gave me such a look that I really couldn't put into words; it wasn't angry, it wasn't sad but I knew I'd never forget it in a hurry.

I bent down to pick up the envelope. There were two letters made out in very bad handwriting; CH: Crazy Hand. I tore open the envelope and pulled out a piece of parchment. I couldn't believe it. It was a map piece.

§¤۞¤§

**_Zelda's POV_**

The wind blew gently across my hair, ruffling it past my pointy ears. I loved the feeling of the wind. It was so cool, and… powerful but gentle at the same time. And at a time of worry, the wind calmed my soul down.

I leaned against the rails that kept people from falling into the lake and supported my arms on it as my eyes scanned the peaceful, scene; the type of calmness and stillness that came before a thunderstorm struck. The clouds were a dull gray still; almost like a place called London.

My tensed up muscles relaxed, and I let all the tension and worry I had, go. Everything… the attempted assassination and rape on Peach, Samus's mystery person… Link…

Wait.

When I thought about Link, only words and phrases popped into my head. I could not get Link entirely off my head, no matter how hard I tried. And as much as I tried denying it I faced the truth; I was in love with Link.

Trust.

Betrayal.

Hurt.

Suffer.

And a word that didn't belong there just came, unbidden and crept up in my head so softly, it could've just easily appeared from thin air.

_Love._

I sighed. I wanted to throw my hands up in frustration; never had my mind been so filled up and confused. Never was my brain so wrapped up and diminished.

"Zelda?" Great, now I was even hearing his voice in my head. Was it really worth it to go up to him and tell him that he was some annoying git who felt no shame, and yet the person he hurt most was still in love with him?

"Please… don't ignore me." The voice pleaded. Okay, so this was real then.

"What do _you_ want?" I forced the snap in my voice as much as I could, so he could feel my anger.

My emotions.

I hated him for what he did.

My bewilderment.

My hurt.

My… _love_!

"I- I wanted to… to apologize." I turned to face the handsome Hylian elf's sapphire blue eyes. His eyes were like sea-green oceans and I found myself drowning in them like some happy saint.

"Sorry Link." Though what I really wanted to say was, "I loved you more than Saria did and you still ran off with her. How could you treat me so shabbily when you mean the world to me!"

"I'm not d-done." He stammered. He was dressed in black. Black brought out his silky blonde hair and eyes really well… they made them stand out a lot.

"What more is there to say?" I couldn't help myself. "You made a major mistake. We can never be the same. The end." I mentally added to myself, "And yet I still love you."

"There's… a lot more." He said. "Marth… told me I should tell you the truth before you break off contact with me."

"I thought I already had." I said, turning back to the lake that had suddenly turned menacing instead of peaceful.

"But… I thought you should know that… that I broke up with Saria." He said it in a rush.

_What! Does he still have feelings for me? Why? I thought…_But I knew that the only way to know was to ask him.

"Why did you do that? I thought you saw her fit to be with you. Better than me." I added the last sentence with self-pity, although I hated self-pity; it was pathetic.

"I didn't think she was better than you. She didn't even come close. You mean the world and more to me. And I'm not lying anymore." He put his arms on my shoulders and turned me around so I couldn't miss those eyes. Those soft, gentle eyes that could hold just as much hostility. The ones that held unlimited love in them. Could I trust them again as I had once done when he'd confessed his little crush on me in sixth grade? Were they telling the truth as they once had? I could see it clearly, the truth swimming in his eyes, like a graceful whale.

"Then why did you go out with her?" His arms on my arms were just like heaven, but pride made me shrug them off and look serenely as possible into his eyes.

"Because… Saria… found out something about you… Something you obviously didn't want to tell anybody else."

My curiosity was aroused. "What? I'm… I didn't hide anything…" I said, but the truth dawned on me slowly, like a leopard stalking his prey and pouncing on it.

"Saria read your diary. She now knows all your embarrassing thoughts. How your father died (I gaped at this) why you're so afraid of Ganondorf (I tried my hardest not to shudder but I flinched anyway)… and how you met me. She told me that if I did not go out with her to make you jealous, then she would tell the whole school."

"B-but why is she doing this?" I felt like crying now. So she knew? My rival knew! My gloved hands clenched and I slowly closed my eyes. When I opened them I got his answer.

"Because… You know how she is. And plus, she was always jealous of you. She was jealous of us… jealous that you are a princess, jealous because in some cases Malon trusted you more than her, jealous because you are so pretty… jealous because you lead a more perfect life."

"But you should've known that, I… that I could cope with it myself!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't you risk it and tell me! You're such a big idiot!" I screamed a various number of names at him. Most of them didn't fit him. But he stood there, his sea-green eyes downcast, shameful. "You fool." I ended quietly.

"I'm sorry… I should've known that you could've coped with it. I'm real sorry Zelda." I wished I could believe him. I felt so bad for calling him names. Guilt mixed with my pangs of sorrow filled my heart.

I gently slapped my palms on his black fabric. I hated it when people saw me crying and right now Link was no exception to this rule. But I was fighting a losing battle. My emotions that I had tried restraining suddenly rose from my heart to my head, to my eyes. A burning, prickly sensation filled my eyes. My eyesight became blurry. I could feel my cheeks burning and my nose turning red like it always did when I cried.

I only heard, and felt. I heard the wind whistling quietly, I could hear my heart beating rapidly and my sniffles. I could feel his arms push my head toward his chest, protecting me from the world and its dangers. I felt his own heart beating against the black fabric. I felt his lips press against my hair. "Why are you crying?" He asked. The guilt grew bigger.

I looked up into eyes. "You're making me feel guilty."

He raised his eyebrow at me. "It is I who should feel guilty. I should've told you everything. It was my mistake." He pressed his lips to my forehead and my nose. Then he took my face between his palms and kissed me full on the mouth. It felt so good, that I vaguely wondered why I hadn't begged for him back.

I remembered what Impa once had told me. _"A princess should stay strong no matter what. She should always do the right thing. Most importantly, if a person wants to gain a bond of trust from a princess, he or she must prove him or herself that they are capable of being a true friend."_ As much as I didn't want to, I reluctantly made up my mind.

I pulled away from our embrace. Link smiled at me in a bemused sort of way. "Link…" I started, "I – I'm sorry." My voice grew stronger, "Unless you really love me, you must prove it." He opened his mouth, perhaps to protest, but before he even said one word, I teleported from the spot to someplace else.

§¤۞¤§

_**Marth's POV**_

"Hey Sam." I said. _Sam? Since when do you call her Sam?_

But Samus didn't seem to want to talk. _And why should she?_ I thought miserably _she doesn't know…_

"Samus?" I asked weakly.

"Don't BOTHER me!" She shouted, "Whoever you are!"

"It's just me. Marth."

She wheeled around. There were no tears on her face, just agitation.

"What happened?" I asked faintly.

"What happened?" She said shrilly. "I'll tell you what bloody happened! Once upon a time there was an ugly girl named Samus Aran who's friends were so very beautiful, and plus they were born of royalty. The ugly girl received an invitation to a theme park that actually killed people, only Samus and her friends didn't know that and so they accepted. During the horror, she lost her roommate. What was worse was that she met a person on the roof who fell in love with the ugly girl but the girl did not know who this mysterious person was. So then, the prat of a girl went to her best guy friend named Falcon, thinking it was him! Guess what? It wasn't! So the damn girl made herself look like a fool and now she thinks that she just lost her best guy friend 'cause she almost tried to kiss him." She jabbed a finger into my chest, "And all the while, some Altean prince thinks it's funny and just has to ask somebody what's wrong, just because he doesn't know what's what!"

Did it look like I was laughing? Did she seriously think it was Captain Falcon? I burst out laughing like the idiot I was.

"WHAT'S SO DAMN FUNNY!" She half shouted in my face.

"You thought it was Captain Falcon out of all people!" I doubled up laughing.

"Um… YEAH!" She said in my face. Then she slapped me in the face. And it wasn't gentle. "Shut up Marth. Just shut up for a minute. Just because you don't have any problems in this godforsaken place, doesn't mean you have a right to laugh at other people's problems just because _they_ have problems. Got that straight, pretty boy?"

"It's not like that. Samus!" I pleaded. Samus walked away.

"Get away from me, you little brute!" She yelled.

"Look, Samus." I turned her around. "Listen to me. I just thought that Falcon wasn't the right choice. I didn't mean to laugh. I just thought it… a bit absurd to think Falcon was on the roof."

"Argh, Marth!" She swore. "Like you'd do any better."

"Listen to me, Samus." But she would not. She kept ranting on about how much of a snob I was.

I didn't mean it to pop out, and perhaps as life went on I probably would regret it. But I was getting pretty desperate. "God damn it Samus! Listen to me! I'd never laugh at you!" She kept on going on, not listening to a word I said. So out of frustration I stuck my face into hers, so my nose was almost touching hers and crazily said, "Can't you understand! I. Love. YOU!" I roared the last part into her face

All was silent.

Great. Good going, Marth.

§¤۞¤§

Okay, that's it guys! I'm done! You'll have to review! AND MARK MY WORDS! IF I DON'T GET MORE THAN… 5 REVIEWS, NO MORE CHAPTERS FOR YOU!

Y.Link: What a drama queen

Crystalicios: -cheerfully- hey, what are we for?


	8. The Mysterious New Character & the Note

Thanks for the wait guys… I hope you 'specially like this chapter!

Y. Link: Crystalicios does not own SSBM… only ideas and some background characters that really don't matter…

Me: Why thank you Young Link! You're finally being a good little boy –pinches his cheek affectionately-

Y. Link: Don't. Touch. Me.

§¤۞¤§

_**Kirby's POV**_

So few people had received those map pieces. It wasn't a surprise to me that Ribbon (A/N: Ribbon is a princess fairy with pink hair that comes from Kirby Crystal Shards 64. When her homeland gets invaded by some kind of virus called Dark Matter she rides on a powerful crystal to get help and to flee. But the Dark Matter comes and follows her and somehow the Crystal shatters. Ribbon ends up on Pop Star, meets Kirby and they set off to collect the pieces of the crystal to restore peace to Ribbon's homeland, meeting a few friends you'll maybe meet) got one; after all she was a princess fairy. But what _did_ surprise me was that she gave it to me.

"Please Kirby. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done to save my homeland." She had told me quietly.

"But… That… that was different." I remember protesting to her. "I did it because you needed the help. I can't accept a gift like this!"

"Kirby, don't you get it?" Ribbon had given me a gentle smile. She had flown up a couple inches, hovering slightly in the air. Every time she was excited, she always flew to the air. "This piece," She waved the bit of parchment in the air, "Is meant for true heroes." She flew to the ground, took my hands and said, "And you're a true hero. I mean it." She opened my hands and put the folded piece of old paper into my hand and whispered, "Please don't refuse it. It's the least I can do for saving me and my home planet." Then without waiting for me to say anything she left with a whir of her dragonfly wings.

This had only happened a day ago but every time I thought about it warmth flared inside me followed by an icy blast of cold. The warmth came from having such a good friend and the icy blast of cold was guilt. Ribbon had given up her life for me. It wasn't right. It just wasn't right…

"Oi, Kirbs!" A hyperactive voice sounded from behind me. I smiled at the artist with dark hair. She had a gleam of wit and impatience in her eye, and also a twinkle of mischief in them. Her name matched what she was always full of. Adrenaline (Adrenaline is also in Kirby Crystal Shards. Dark Matter possessed her and Kirby had to defeat her because she was a boss. When Dark Matter left her she decided to help Kirby and her friends. She has a unique gift; whatever she paints, it becomes real.).

"What is it now Adren?" I asked her. The red beret was attractively positioned lopsided on her head and she wore a sea-green tunic that was smeared with paint of every color imaginable. She wore black, simple pants with black shoes.

"This is the second time I was telling you about King Dede! Are you even listening?"

"Uh… Yeah." I lied. In my mind, I debated whether to tell Adrenaline about the map piece. Would she be jealous? Would she try to steal it? I liked Adrenaline very much. She was the most fun person to be around with, but sometimes she could get pretty unpredictable.

"With what's on your mind, I'd doubt anybody would listen to me torment a poor, fat, old duck king." She sighed, put her elbows on the table, leaned forward, and rested her head on her hands. She looked at me and sighed again, "What seems to be the problem?"

I decided to tell her. After all, she was one of my best friends. And anyway, she'd find out soon. "Promise not to tell?" I asked.

She impatiently tucked her black hair behind her ear and looked at me in the eye so I knew that she wouldn't lie. "Promise." She solemnly told me. I made a tiny note that solemn didn't fit Adrenaline.

"Well… Rib ot a map piece." I said, ignoring Adrenaline's squeal of, "Map piece!"

"Let me guess, Rib ave it to you?" Adrenaline asked me, putting on a smirk. "Whoa Kirby. Who would've guessed that a fairy princess would fall for a pink little blob like you? Maan… you must got some real charm there? What was it this time? Chocolates? Jewelry? Oooh… Jewelry always gets 'em!" She smirked at me.

"Oh please," I snapped at her, though I knew she was kidding with me, "The only girl that falls for the jewelry trick is you."

"So? What's, like, so totally wrong with that? I mean, like, a girl, like, needs her accessories." She pouted, imitating a perfect line for a cheerleader. But we both knew that she barely wore jewelry. Adrenaline was a perfect tomboy. Her hair was mostly unkempt, and she had cut her hair by herself (leaving uneven ends) and she never bothered to put make-up on or dress in neat clothes (Her tunic should clue you in on that one). "So Ribbon did give it to you?" Adrenaline asked.

"Yeah…" I hesitantly said.

"Well, then, what are you waiting for! Go home!" Adrenaline told me cheerfully, "I mean, no sense in waiting here and risking yourself." She said in a falsely bright voice. I could tell Adrenaline wasn't jealous, just hurt that I would be leaving soon.

"I know… But I can't just leave yet." I said, paying my half of the bill, while Adrenaline paid her half. We always split the bill every time we eat out. "I don't want you and Ribbon, and Dede, and everyone else to get hurt here. I mean, you guys can't all die here. There must be some kind of way to get out."

The corners of Adrenaline's mouth twitched. She gave me a humorless smile and said, "Kirby, I don't think there is one. Just go save whatever you can. Don't come down with us. Go. You deserve it. After all the times you've done good for others."

"But… you helped me! Without all that food you painted out for me, I would've never survived!" I protested. I hated that look of a helpless smile on her face. It just didn't seem to suit her hyperactive, witty and clever personality.

_**Young Link's POV**_

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to Nana. Me and Nana were spying on some oversized pink gumball with legs, arms, mouth, and eyes named Kirby who was talking some dramatic stuff to his painting buddy named Adrenaline. Popo and Ness were snooping someplace else. And Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Pichu decided to help us by trying to get Samus to join our map piece unity.

"Yeah. The Falcon has a map piece. And the Sparrow doesn't." Nana whispered to me, rather energetically.

"Uh… what the crap _is_ the falcon and the sparrow?" I asked her.

She rolled her eyes at me and gave me a false but good impression of a dim-witted grin. "The falcon is that pink blob, and the Sparrow is the painting person. Duh." She gave me the loser sign and turned her attention back to Kirby and Adrenaline.

I mouthed a "whatever" before whispering to her, "Time for some drastic action here." Luckily I was dressed in black jeans, and a black hoodie that had an LL on it. L.L stood for "Limpid Lances" which was a band (A/N: The band is purely made up!). And just my luck, Nana had these cool black sunglasses; the type that nobody can see where you're looking because the shades are so dark. I stole them from her, ignoring her loud whispered "HEY!" and put them on. I cleared my throat, put my hood on and stepped from our hiding place.

"Kirby… you're presence is required." I said in what I hoped was a shadowy, mysterious, rugged, whisper.

"Uhh… little boy? I'm in the middle of something right now…" Kirby trailed off.

"Little boy?" I tried spitting in all the venom I could muster into my "deadly whisper". "You are highly mistaken. It is you who is the little… er… blob." I continued in my "whisper of doom".

At the word "blob" Adrenaline burst out laughing.

"Oh shut up, will ya?" Kirby said, reddening, if that were possible. "And anyway, your height shows how big you are."

"I'm taller than you." I pointed out as mysteriously as I possibly could.

"Well… seeing how I'm the 'little blob I can't possibly be taller than a human. Or a kid."

"Whatever. Just because I'm short-"

"You're not short! You're fun-size!" Adrenaline interrupted, giggling. Gosh, I hated those stupid girl quotes.

"Whatever. As I was saying, I am rather short for my age. But that does not stop me from being older than you, Kirby." I said, trying not to betray any emotions that I'd bottled up.

"What does that stand for on your hoodie? Does LL stand for the 'Limpid Lances'? My god, nobody hears those guys anymore, they're lame!" Kirby said, noticing the logo on my hoodie.

"Oh…" Adrenaline wittingly answered with a grin, "I thought it stood for Loser's Lurgy!" (A/N: Loser's Lurgy comes from Harry Potter 6… Y. Link: As you can tell she's a big fan…)

"Ha ha." I said, in the same dangerous whisper, except I added some sarcasm in it. "For your FYI, my organization is so secret I cannot reveal it!"

"That's redundant." Adrenaline shot up at once.

"What is?" I asked.

"If you say, for your FYI, you're saying 'for your, for your information'! So instead you would just say FYI, instead of for your FYI!" She bobbed up and down once, happily, as soon as she was done with her information.

I and Kirby both gave her the 'who-cares-about-that' look at the same time. She shrugged her shoulders at us in her same bouncy manner.

"Will you come, Kirby?" I asked.

"Uh… sure. Whatever you say. C'mon Adrenaline." He nodded in her direction, "Let's go."

"Wait!" I said in my normal voice. They both looked at me strangely. "I mean, you're not allowed to bring the girl. Only you must come." I said hurriedly in my 'deadly' whisper.

Suddenly Kirby looked uncomfortable. Did he suspect it had something to do with the map?

"Wait! I will go!" Adrenaline said, standing up from the table. Her eyes were on fire, "Where ever Kirby goes, I go too!"

"How touching," I could not help but add a sneer to my voice, "Fine, come if you wish."

I led them outside, while I gave a signal to Nana to join us. She slipped outside, stalking us, pink parka and all.

_**Samus's POV**_

I stood there. What? This was crazy. Actually, ever since I'd been to this park, it's been crazy. I backed away from Marth's embarrassed face. I saw him turn his head away and mutter embarrassedly, "All that crap you've just heard… just… forget it." His cheeks were a bright red color.

I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to do. Things just happened way too fast. What could I say? My brain was jumbled up. Mother had told me before she died to listen to your heart and brain. But right now if I looked into my heart I could see a sign hanging on the front saying, 'out of order' and a sign on my brain saying, 'closed for reconstruction'. "Marth…" I started hesitantly, but stopped when I was unsure of what to say.

"Listen," He said, still avoiding my eyes, "Just forget everything I've said to you this day, okay? You didn't need to hear that crap coming from my mouth right after… Falcon."

"I can't." I automatically said, reminding myself irresistibly of those cheesy dramas on T.V. that Peach used to adore.

"Can't what?" He asked, looking down now.

"I can't forget what you've said to me so easily. And right now, I don't know what to think right now. I don't know how to react. I…" Should I say what I honestly felt? "I don't… feel the feeling toward you that you… feel to me." I didn't know what else to say.

There was a long silence. "Well… say something." I said nervously to him.

"What else is there to say? I'm not going to try to persuade you." He said in a soft, faraway voice. When he finally met my eye for a brief second I was surprised and felt a pang of guilt when I saw that they were struggling not to shed or show any sign of tears. He cleared his throat; the look vanished. "Well, I guess I'm not going to waste my time." He shrugged an awkward shrug and shook his bangs out of his eyes. Then he slumped around and left.

I looked on after him. I felt terribly confused. I finally turned around. I had to get Marth out of my mind. I had more pressing matters in my head. I tried to concentrate on my mystery guy. Who was he? But no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, my brain always flashed the image of Marth's almost tear filled eyes.

I stood there, not knowing where to turn. What was I supposed to do? I stared on after him. Would our new-found friendship continue after this? My world was going in a blurry haze. _Am I going blind?_ I thought, but a second later I was shocked to see a tear of mine drop to the ground. Its shape was flawless, smooth, and clear like a cross between a diamond and a pearl. I waited for it to shatter on the sidewalk and form a tiny pool on the floor. But that never happened. Somebody caught it. A white gloved hand.

"Tears should not be wasted. But I take it that this one was not wasted." A voice told me, full of sorrow. My head shot up. I stared into those aquamarine eyes. She looked into the distance. "Samus, when are you going to confront your emotions? Do you know how love feels? Have you ever admitted that you _are_ in love?"

"Zelda?" I asked. I had never seen her in this mood before. It was… sad… emotional… and wise, yet powerful.

"'What is it your heart seeks?' was what my maid used to tell me. So I'm going to repeat the same advice to you." I barely caught the next words she said, but it was mostly to herself, "and I."

"What happened to Link and you?" I dared to ask.

Her eyes were hollow and she gave me a mirthless, soft smile, "Nothing more is between us. Unless he proves him self worthy." Her smile was gone in an instant replaced by a straight line that I could not interpret.

"Zelda…" I began to comfort her but she interrupted me.

"No Samus, it is not the time to comfort. It's the time to think." She looked at me and suddenly smiled. Then she walked away.

It was the longest time I had heard good advice in hard times. But this was one of those times that I'd heard advice when I most sought it.

_**General POV**_

**Master Hand's Office**

"You summoned me here, father?" The girl in the seat asked. Her eyes were a violent shade of ultramarine and intensely stared at the hand in front of her. She had chestnut brown hair that went to her waist. It gleamed a lot. She was slim, attractive, and tall yet there was a power-hungry look in her eyes that looked like it always wanted to be in the spotlight. She hopefully awaited the glove's response.

"Yes, Medusia, I asked for you." He responded in a very business-like manner, ignoring the fact that she had called him "father".

"What do you need?" She asked eagerly.

"Nothing that you should do. However, I need to ask you something of high importance." He said. There was a hint of anger in his voice. "Answer this. And your answer must have honesty in it. What do you know of these rides that keep breaking and killing innocent people?"

The girl stared hard at the hand. What did he mean? She did not do anything of those attacks. She thought of a way to say this. Her legs crossed together tightly. She finally looked at Master Hand.

"Father, I certainly did not plan those attacks. You've asked me this question three times already. Don't you trust me?" She looked at him and two fat drops of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"No, _daughter_, I don't trust you." He tartly told her. The remark stung, like Medusia had been struck in the face by him. "Further more, I know that you are behind this. If you don't tell me who or what happened… I'll see to it personally that you won't ever see me ever again." He floated curtly across the room, ignoring her silent weeping. He crossed the room, opened the door and floated out, slamming the door shut.

Medusia stared at the place he'd been just moments before. Her eyes became expressionless at first; blank like a piece of white copy paper. Then slowly anger developed and she began to kick and scream, throwing papers around the room, knocking chairs all over the room. Her hair was a terrible mess; it clung together like snakes.

"I'll make you see that you _are_ my father. I'll make you see that I _am_ your daughter. You'll pay for whatever you've never trusted me for. And then you'll pay attention only to ME!" She began in a whisper but yelled out the "Me" part. For a second she looked like a cannibal, red-faced, with spittle hanging from her unkempt hair and face, her eyes were a wild fury. Her nails now resembled claws. She would not be ignored like some… other person! She would do something about this!

When she left the room, her expression was quite normal and she looked like the same she had been before she came in.

_**Fox's POV**_

"Fox…?" The voice sounded unbearably weak. I looked up to the bright blue bird that was on the hospital bed. A pang of pity shot through me as I saw him on there, merciless, and so different from that cool image he'd created.

A groan escaped from his lips and his eyes opened. They were unfocused at first, but after blinking a couple of times they became normal. He struggled to sit up but it was hard.

"Just rest." I pleaded. I didn't want to see him struggling to do something that was so simple.

Through gritted teeth he replied, "No," and he squeezed his eyes shut and hoisted himself. After what seemed like hours but was only minutes he managed to get himself in a decent sitting position. "What's wrong with me Fox?" He asked, "Why am I so weak?"

I explained what had happened at the arcade, how I half dragged him from the hospital, how he'd been unconscious for three hours. Last but not least, I told and showed him the map piece.

"Katt… gave this to me?" Falco said weakly, looking at the item that now lay on his lap. He fingered the old, fragile object, "Why?"

"I dunno…" I said and explained what Krystal told me.

"Paralyzed?" He uttered in surprise. "What happened?"

"I think something fell on her…" I didn't want to reveal the rest of the sentence.

He looked at the map and then he looked at me. He gave me this stare. It wasn't his Falco's-Stare-of-Doom-version 6.1 that he used on people who intentionally _wanted_ to piss him off. But it seemed very intense. He looked back at the map.

"How long have you've been here?" He asked.

"Uh… I just got here." I lied, not meeting his eyes. I didn't want to tell him that I actually stayed the whole time in the hospital from the moment he was there.

"Fo-ox… tell the truth." He demanded softly.

I gave him a guilty look, "The whole time you've been here…" I said.

He looked at me, giving me a more intense look. Finally he looked away again.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't want it."

"Want what?"

"You deserve it."

"Deserve what?"

"This!" He thrust the map piece onto me.

"I couldn't… No… I can't accept this… It's yours…" I stammered.

"Fox, I don't know how hard I hit my head," Falco began, "But while I was unconscious I guess I couldn't count all the times you saved me. All those times you saved me while we were flying. When we were in Solar, and my ship was about to overheat, you shot down all those birds to help me get my health back. And when that big boss came up, you saved me from his clutches too. And now, most people would've just left and called for help. But not you. You got me out along with yourself. I know I should be telling you to stop acting noble and get off my behind. But I guess you don't meet many people like you nowadays. So this is my thanks to you." He simply smiled at me.

I was at a loss for words. "Uh… Thanks."

"It's the most I can do." He said grinning.

All of a sudden the doors burst open and a big wad of pink bubble gum with legs, blue eyes and a mouth toppled in along with some girl with a beret on her head.

"We should've spied some more! Jeez!" The pink blob told the girl.

"Oh hush up Kirby!" She told him before facing me, "I have an announcement to make! Since you have a map piece you must go to hotel number 2 and room number 123 tomorrow at two for an important meeting. If you do not attend, we will force you to come." She told me. Then she did a little tap dance with a cane and a black top hat and danced out the door while Kirby turned on a CD player so it could have more effect. Except the door wasn't open. So she stumbled into it, banging headfirst into the metal door. And then she embarrassedly opened the door dragged Kirby out and slammed the door shut.

"Uh…" Falco started, confused while I threw my head back and laughed.

_**Ness's POV**_

**Two Days Later**

After all that hard work. After all that, plus a big number of deaths, we had finally found all the map pieces. The reason why it took so short was because every time we found a new person with a piece they decided to help us look for them. Also some people already knew that other people had gotten it. Samus had told us that Captain Falcon had one. But she'd stoutly refused to come with us to see him. There had been actually twelve map pieces and not eight as the rumors had said. When we had visited the last person with the map piece (DK) we decided to meet up in my room the very next day. Kid Icarus had decided not to come, but Nana, Popo and Young Link were the ones who actually decided on a meeting. A few other people were coming too. I knew that Marth, Roy, Peach, Zelda, and Pichu were coming for a fact. I also knew that Bowser and Ganondorf were coming along with some psychic pokemon named Mewtwo because they'd all threatened Popo into letting them come. A two-sided man by the name of Mr. Game and Watch (A/N: Okay, so it wasn't the cleverest idea where to put Mr. G&W but I had to put him somewhere!) had somehow overheard our plans and threatened to tell everybody about the meeting if he couldn't come. So he had to come too.

"Okay the guests we have so far are…" Popo muttered. I took a look at his list.

1. Luigi

2. Mario

3. DK

4. Yoshi

5. Capt. Falcon

6. Ness

7. Kirby

8. Samus

9. Jigglypuff

10. Link

11. Pikachu

12. Fox

13. Falco

14. Young Link

15. Popo & Nana

16. Pichu

17. Mewtwo

18. Bowser

19. Ganondorf

20. Dr. Mario (?)

21. Zelda

22. Peach

23. Mr. Game & Watch

24. Marth

25. Roy

"What's the question mark for?" I asked shrewdly, looking at guest number 20.

"I'm not sure if he's coming or not…" Popo replied.

"I see. And isn't Adrenaline coming?" I asked.

"Nup."

"Shame. She was starting to grow on me." I replied, fondly thinking of the hyper-active girl. You know, even though her clothes were stained and tacky she kinda looked attractive. _Oh, please, Ness. Get a grip on yourself._ I chided myself mentally tearing my mind away from the painter.

Popo raised an eyebrow at me but didn't comment. "I can't believe all the cool stuff is actually here! To think that we organized this whole thing!"

It was too cool to be true. All the teens were actually following us for once! _Now that doesn't happen everyday _I thought idly as I spun my yo-yo in a series of complicated moves. I couldn't live without my trusty yo-yo.

Kid Icarus scowled from a corner. He had stopped talking to me first, but when he found out that Young Link, Popo, and Nana decided to go with me he stopped talking to us altogether.

"_Hey Icarus! Wassup?" Nana asked cheerfully._

"_Nothing really." He smiled at her._

"_Well… That's cool too." She laughed at her statement._

_He laughed too. Then he grew sober, "Well it's better than talking to some bragger."_

_Nana's smile was wiped off her face. "What do you mean?" She asked._

"_Don't get me wrong Nan, but Ness keeps showing off his map piece, like he's special or something…" He walked up to Nana and gave her a tender look. "Of course, you're too smart to support some dumb guy like him, right?" Nana stepped back, with a touch of defiance on her face. He recognized the look on her face, "You honestly don't support Ness?" He asked, hostility returned to his eyes. He took a step back too._

"_For your information, I do! And you know what else? So does my brother and Young Link. And you know what? They are much SMARTER than you'll be, because they know who to support."_

"_What, crushing on that blonde brat now? The one who shows off his bows and arrows and his stupid wooden sword?" Kid Icarus snarled; his wings even looked unfriendly._

"_No!" Protested Nana although she flushed. Was that the best comeback she could come up with._

_The door opened. "What's up with you guys?" Young Link said, popping in. Talk of the devil…_

"_What's it to some jerk like you?" Kid Icarus shouted madly. His eyes were popping out._

"_Uh… Nana? What's going on?" Young Link asked concerned._

"_Oh nothing unless you count Kid Icarus being jealous of Ness. And you." Nana muttered._

"_Me? Why?" Young Link asked shrewdly._

"_Uh… No reason…" Nana said hastily._

"_Ohhhh… no! She does have a reason!" Icarus flew to the air so fast that you could hear the whistle of wind. "Why don't you tell him? And FYI, I'm not jealous of Ness OR Young Link for that matter."_

"_Well…?" Young Link chose to ignore Icarus's remark. He turned to face Nana who had just looked away off._

"_I…" How could she start it off? How could she tell Young Link that she _liked_ him? And at a moment like this too?_

_But at that moment, Ness and Popo flung open the door. "THREE MORE PEOPLE TODAY!" Both shouted at the top of their lungs, joyous. But then they saw the tense expressions on Nana's and Kid Icarus's face, standing face to face far apart like they were about to duel. In between them was a perplexed Young Link who looked like he had just teleported there. He was looking at Nana with a puzzled expression, while Nana wasn't meeting his eyes at all. She just stared at the wooden floor with a mad annoyed expression. Icarus who was looking at Nana and Young Link with a cruel amused look that was mingled with a greedy expectant look, had looked up at Popo and Ness in alarm. But when he realized who it was he scowled._

"_This is your entire fault!" He shouted, flew toward them, pushed them aside roughly and was gone in an instant._

_Ness looked at the remaining kids thoughtfully. He didn't have to read Nana's mind to know what she felt. Popo who knew about Nana's feelings for Young Link tried to lessen the bleak mood that had settled in the atmosphere._

"_Er… should we go for a pizza, or order one?" He tried smiling._

Every time I looked back to that scene I felt guilty. It was almost like it was _me_ who was Icarus. Why did he hate me? Had I truly bragged so much it got on his nerves? Was he just jealous, like Popo had once told me? I sighed, failing to catch Icarus's eye. I turned away helplessly. Was there nothing I could do to repair our friendship?

_**Peach's POV**_

"Well you guys look like you've seen the end of the world," I commented to Zelda and Samus as they entered our room. Thank God, we'd gotten ours back. The boys' room was messy as we got it. And their bathroom smelled of a strong cologne that had made me light-headed, faint, and dizzy.

"Well… it's almost, but not quite." Zelda told me and explained what had happened between her and Link.

"Well… you kinda did the right thing. But Zelda… Does this mean you value your pride more than your love?" I asked.

"I wish you wouldn't make it sound that bad. Impa told me that sometimes love can't be the only solution. You being the hopeless romantic that you are, you wouldn't understand." She joked.

"Hey! Are you saying I'm hopeless?" I demanded playfully.

"But you're romantic too…" Said Samus smiling with a faraway look, before telling me what had happened between her and Marth and then what Zelda had told her.

"Aw!" I squealed. Both Zelda and Samus grimaced at the high-pitch. "That guy is absolutely the handsomest guy on earth… Besides Roy." She added quickly. "And Marth wasn't very romantic… but maybe things will turn out for the better?" I added hopefully.

"Maybe." Said Samus trying to sound nonchalant.

"I thought you were over Roy." Zelda frowned at me.

My light-hearted mood quickly spirited away at the mention of his name although my pulse quickened. "I don't know what to think of him right now." I said, wanting to change the subject. "Sometimes I just wish I could just _make_ him like me! But I know he doesn't. So, I guess I should just drop it. Even though inside I don't think I will." I sighed.

There was a knock at the door. We all jumped. "A message for missus Peach and Zelda." A voice squeaked.

I hesitantly opened the door. A midget with a bald head and a silver cheap jumpsuit stood (A/N: I was sort of thinking of Mini-Me in Austin Powers… Don't ask why) He squeaked and pointed at the letter.

"What, you can't speak?" I asked, amused.

He shook his head. "But you were just now!" Zelda said while Samus looked thoughtfully at me and Zelda.

Something weird was uttered from him and then he pointed to a tape-recorder. I wondered why somebody went through the trouble to record it. I took the message from him which was sealed in a hot pink, girly envelope. I was puzzled. The midget gave me a funny smile then _he_ slammed the door on me.

"Well?" Samus and Zelda asked. I turned the envelope open and saw that it was wax-sealed with a black snake as its seal. Why would something girly want a snake as its seal? I pondered for a second. But what I really wanted to know what was inside so I tore it open and:

_Dear Princesses,_

_I know times like this are bleak. But as I look at it from your point of views I can imagine how frightful this is if you don't know what's going on and why you are here. I can give you the information of what is really going on here and the true meanings of the map pieces if you give me a little something. I want you to meet me at midnight outside hotel number 3. One more thing: DO NOT SHOW THIS TO SAMUS! I know you won't take heed of this warning but you should know that I am watching your every move. If you tell her, she will die a slow painful death by my hands. So consider this your warning. If you fail to show, you will regret it later on. Only you can save yourselves and possibly the rest of the people by coming here. Now, meet me tonight. Or suffer the consequences._

_ —Anonymous _

Underneath were a few spiraling snakes. I reread the threatening note a couple more times, my heart beating painfully fast. _She will die a slow painful death… If you fail to show, you will regret it, later on… So consider this you're warning… I can give you information…Or suffer the consequences…_ The words flashed by my head. I whirled around to face Samus and Zelda.

"What happened?" Samus asked: an anxious look came upon her face. "You look pale as a ghost!"

"It's nothing." I said back, hoping my voice sounded offhand.

Zelda looked at the paper in my hand and opened her mouth. I shot her a warning glance so she didn't have to mention it. She shut her mouth, puzzled.

"I think I'll go." I said, forcing the weakness out of my voice. "I feel rather faint in this room. I must get some fresh air."

Samus stared at me weirdly. Then Zelda. Then shrugged. Me and Zelda exchanged a knowing look then Zelda said, "I forgot that I'd meet… Slippy! Yes that's it… I'll meet you later. Bye Samus!" She lied through her teeth.

Samus gave me another queer look. Then she pawed through the drawer she had opened. She looked through more frantically. "Wait!" she cried. "It's gone!"

"What is?"

Her face was whiter than mine, "My map piece! Someone's stolen it!"

¤§۞§¤

That was… long… Sorry. Homework never fails to interrupt. And this wasn't especially long chapter either. I might not update much anymore. I have midterms this December… but maybe during my Christmas break I could make up for it? I don't know… stuff happens. I'll update whenever possible. Oh yeah, thanks for the reviews! I love ya all sooo much. Please give me a lot of feedback on this chapter! I'd looove it! Maybe as much as the previous chapter? Or maybe more? Thanks!

Y. Link: Well, somebody's getting a little _too_ desperate… It's just a story!

Me: HEY! I'm not _just_ a story! It's my passion! My soul…

Y. Link: -slaps forehead- Oh brother…

ANYWAY… Reviewer replies toooooo:

**Polska**: Aw… thanks… -blush- Really, too much… (Y. Link: Please don't praise her anymore because she'll wet her pants –grins evilly- Me: HEY! Don't listen to that little…) Do you always sign your name like that? Green Day is one of my top five favorite bands!

**Royal Kenya**: Well, Falco survived! I _couldn't_ let somebody like him die! He's one of my FAVORITEST (a word?) characters! Besides, most of the time in murder fanfic stories Falco ALWAYS is a victim… Anyway… YOU MUST UPDATE YOUR STORIES! –takes out a knife- (Y. Link: I suggest you back away… slowly… because if you do it fast she might do something worse…)

**Anonymous**(the no-name one): Hey thanks!

**War-Bearer**: No matter how hard I try… I ALWAYS GET THINGS MIXED UP! There should be more reviewers who can point out small things… they help a lot! Hm… you make a good editor! Anyway... just forget what I say in the previous chapters… I'm crazy like that. Oh yes, the people who die… unfortunately they're dead… but you'll find out what happens next chapter…!

**Noisemaze**: Thanks so much! –automated voice- Thank you for reviewing, please comment and/or praise and/or flame me sometime soon. We hope and look forward to seeing you. Have a nice day and keep both your buttocks on! (Me: That was Y. Link! Y. Link: Aw man! I wanted the blame on you! Gr… Time for plan number 2)

**Tears of Light**: Oh no! A drama! Ah… I hate those things… (Y. Link: You filthy hypocrite! You're writing one AND you watch them too! Desi ones at that! You're sooo pathetic) I put Mr. Game in Watch… BUT I PROMISE THAT HE'LL APPEAR MORE INTO THE STORY! The way I put him was pathetic, wasn't it? Ah well… don't worry, he'll appear more!

**Foxdude33**: Thanks Fox is made for nobody but Krystal… although I wish she didn't die in your story (Y. Link: That's just because he wanted to create some juicy stuff... –looks at me weirdly- DUHHH! You've done it too… or TRIED TO! –s - Me: -throws a tuna can at him- Y. Link: OWWW!) ANYWAY… yes I read your latest chapter… I'm not sure if I reviewed but I cannot wait for the next. Thank you SO much for separating your dialogue… It makes it easier for my tiny brain anyyyyway… How'd you like this chapter?


	9. It Was All a Scam

Chapter 9 – It was all a scam…

Oh… YES! I forgot to tell you… since this story is coming to an end, I thought I'd tell you that there **might** be a sequel to this! Yessiree, you'll find out why there is in this chapter or perhaps the last (or second last) chapter. Possibly.

Y. Link: Yeah… like anybody cares…

Me: Please! No more comments from you, Young Link!

Y. Link: -sigh- oh, fine… Crystalicios doesn't own us (thank god) or any of the other things in SSBM or anything that Nintendo owns. She however owns the theme park and the plot and Medusia… THE ONLY THING SHE OWNS!

If anybody knows why the name Medusia and her uncanny love for snakes connect, tell me! I need to see, if people are aware of those small details…

§¤۞¤§

_**Zelda's POV**_

"Gone?" I echoed Samus's words, as the Bounty Hunter now pulled out the whole drawer and dumped out the items in them. When she couldn't find the item she was looking for, she started pulling out other drawers and looking for piece.

"I've had a thought." Peach said thoughtfully. "You don't think… Saria…?"

"Why would she want my map piece?" Samus frantically replied. "Her fight is with Zelda not me!" She clutched her head, shut her eyes and moaned, "How could I have let this happen!"

Peach and I dropped to the floor and started inspecting the whole room. But it was not to be found. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Could it have been Saria? I somehow thought it was her. I hadn't seen her this whole day, yet… I scanned the room. I knew somebody stole it… "Peach… What did you want to tell me?" I whispered, while I pretended to search Peach's jewelry box.

"Tell ya later… Not while Samus is here." She whispered.

"Will you both quit jabbering and help me search!" Samus shouted at us.

_Knock, knock._

"Who's there?" Samus asked flustered.

"Oooh! I love 'knock knock' jokes!" Peach exclaimed happily forgetting what was going on and switching to her IQ of whatever it was now to below seventy

"It's me, Saria! Jeez, I lost my bloody key!" A high-pitched voice that did not sound like Saria, said. Me and Samus exchanged looks. Saria never said the word 'bloody' and Saria didn't have a high-pitched voice, even if she did have a cold.

But Peach, who wasn't in her right mind walked up the door muttering, "That wasn't a funny knock-knock joke at all. I don't get it…"

"PEACH NO!" Samus and I yelled at the same time, but like in most stories with lots of cliffhangers, it was too late.

"Heh… I'm pretty good at these good voice impressions aren't I?" The person laughed while Peach stared at him in shock, possibly wondering if she were dreaming or not.

_**Marth's POV**_

"Cheer up Marth, it couldn't have gotten worse." The young blonde swordsman told me. He regretfully stared at the pond, his eyes full of memories. Probably the memories that he and Zelda shared together. "Me and Zelda first kissed by a pond." He reminiscently and absentmindedly told me. As if I would really listen.

"D'you think I should've told her?" I asked, even though Link and I had worn this subject out many a time before. I looked at the white lilies in the pond. One of my teachers had told me that white lilies stood for peace and purity. I could sure go for some peace right about now.

"It might've sounded too… desperate. And besides, she wouldn't have believed you." Link reminded me. I put my arms over the bench back and settled backward, relaxing myself.

"Why hello there… _Marth_." A voice lilted from my right. "And of course, _Link_."

We both turned to the unfamiliar voice. Her eyes were the most brilliant shade of ultramarine. Her eyes held a mischievous look yet there was something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. Her lips were pulled into a half-smile as she eyed us. Her hair color was of a gleaming chestnut that went down to her lower waist. She walked gracefully and was tall and had an attractive figure. To top it off she was wearing high heels, a mini-skirt that was very small and a tank-top that revealed her midriff and showed off a lot of cleavage. I also noticed that she must've spent a lot of time doing her make-up because it was done perfectly, from eye shadow to nail-polish.

"Can we help you?" I asked uncertainly but as politely as I could, trying to keep my eyes off her revealing flesh. _Samus would never wear things as revealing as this _I couldn't help thinking.

"Ohh… _yes_. Why certainly." She responded in the same lilting voice of hers.

"Do we know you?" Link asked. He was doing better than I was keeping his eyes in her face and not anywhere else.

"I'm afraid not. But…" She added quickly when she saw Link's eyes have an annoyed look on them, "I really could use some help from such handsome boys like you." She gave a seducing smile when she saw I was practically drooling. She was a perfect ten. Who needed Samus when you had her? But who _was_ her?

"Sorry, but me and Marth have other things to do." Link said, with a hard edge in his voice. "Riiight Marth?" He added looking at me ogling at her.

Not right, Link. I was never the type to be a pervert but… This was a special case. "Uh… What's your name?" I asked. I inwardly grimaced at how stupid I sounded.

She gave a girly laugh. "My name? My name is Medusia."

"Pretty." I remarked and then motioned for her to sit, barely acknowledging that Link had left the area in disgust.

She sat down right next to me, her angelic, perfect ten—no wait—fifteen touching mine. _I can't believe I was stressing over Samus when here was a girl so gorgeous is actually noticing me!_ I thought. I could feel the heat emanating from her. She carefully crossed her leg on top of the other, sat straight up and put her hands on her knees. Then she spoke. "I have a problem. And I'm afraid only _you_ can help me. Oh, _please_ will you help?" She put on a dramatic expression; her overly lip-glossed lips pouted out and put on the puppy dog face. It was way too hard to resist.

"Anything for you." I said in a lovesick manner that probably didn't suit me.

"Oh goody!" She clapped her well manicured hands together and put on a sad expression on her face. "My father is Master Hand."

"What!" I yelled loudly. Her gorgeous face was pulled into a sad manner. I could see something else in that frown. What was it? Laughter? But when she spoke again I soon forgot all about it as she began her unhappy tale.

"Yes, it is terrible. But I really want to make him like me! He doesn't care about me. He just… is really mean to me! I didn't even do anything wrong either. And now he's putting the blame on me for murdering all these people. I don't know why!" Her ultramarine eyes were downcast. "Please… could you—wait… do you have a map piece?" She asked her eyes wide.

I wish I could say yes. It was so pitiful seeing her there. It wasn't fair that Master Hand was putting blame on her like this! "I… can't. I don't have one! I mean I did once but…" I trailed off hopelessly. I didn't want to tell her my secret.

She gave an even more seductive smile. She moved closer to me. Her body was practically squeezed against mine. I could feel her body heat. She whipped her hair back; her shampoo scent wafting up my nostrils. She slid a hand around my lower waist. Goosebumps crawled up on me. Her face moved closer to the side of my face. "I know you have it. Please, do it for me and you'll get anything you want from _me_?" I could feel her minty breath on my ear. I refrained myself from shuddering.

But something else disturbed me. One thing I hated that was definitely on my top ten. Whores. _Please do it for me and you'll get anything you want from me?_ She was selling herself from me.

I stood up and away from her. She looked at me. I crossed my arms defiantly. "I was speaking the truth. I don't have the map piece. Furthermore, I don't want you to be _sold_ to me. Good day to you too." I said coldly.

Her eyes narrowed at me. She suddenly lost all the prettiness. Her eyes reduced to thin slits, and the rest of her eye became a nasty yellow-greenish shade. Her silky hair turned into a wavy black and looked like a multitude of snakes. And when she spoke, she seemed to have two great fangs. "As you wish. Your life will be a living hell. And what's more is that I know whom your heart desires. And you can be sure that you will attend her funeral before your friends attend your own!" She hissed. Was it my imagination or did her hair slither and hiss? But before I could take a better look she stomped away madly.

_**Mr. Game & Watch's POV**_

I wandered up and down the streets pausing at the rides and reflecting on what had happened so far when I bumped into a girl. A green haired girl, with green eyes, pale skin, and a green shirt with green pants. "I'm very sorry!" I stammered. She gave me a scowl.

"I don't have time for a 2-D like you." She snarled. "Say sorry!"

"Uh… I did." I said taken-aback and a little scared at her rudeness.

"Whatever! I have other things on my mind. _Important_ things other than you." She emphasized it. Like I wanted to spend time with some bad-tempered sprite anyway.

I saw her stomp away. Curious, I followed her; turning straight forward (Since 2-D's are 2 dimensional they only have two sides not more than that!) so she wouldn't catch me that easily. One of the good reasons of being a 2-D. She walked fast, faster, faster… I was practically jogging by the time she stopped. I hid behind a trash bin and saw her walk up to a freaky looking girl with black hair that looked like snakes, yellow eyes with black narrow slits, and fangs protruding from her mouth.

"Did you get it?" The snake-haired girl asked.

"Yes. Here it is, Medusia." The green-haired girl fumbled for the map piece. I caught myself in the nick of time. Didn't we find all the pieces? "Wait!" She snapped as the girl named Medusia got the greedy glint in her eyes. "What about _my _end of the bargain?"

"You'll get it, Ssssaria. Chill." She hissed and narrowed her eyes. If I were given _that_ look I'd run. Even from my hidden spot goose bumps traveled all over me and the reason why I shivered wasn't just because of the faint drizzle spraying on us. "Now… give me that map pieccccee" She hissed out again.

"Not until you keep my side of the bargain. You do remember it don't you?" She said annoyingly.

"Yesss… ssstop nagging!" She snapped.

"Sorry." She rolled her eyes and dangled it from Medusia's reach.

"You are forcccccing me to do ssssomething I don't want to do." She flicked a forked tongue out. Then I did a double-take; A clump of hair opened two large green eyes, went up to Saria's outstretched hand and snatched the paper with fangs. What she had on her head wasn't hair… they were snakes. Dozens of them.

"That's not fair!" Saria cried out. "We had a deal."

Medusia threw back her head, her snake-hair flying everywhere, "You thought I wasss going to keep my part of the deal? No! I do not keep my promissses!" She laughed.

"But _I_ stole it! I'm not going to do your dirty work! I'm the one who stole it from Samus, not you!" Saria protested, nearly crying.

That went too far. I felt responsible. Since I knew what was going on I should stop it. I kicked the garbage bin toward Medusia. It rolled knocking Saria, then Medusia; the map piece fluttered from Medusia's hair-snake. I jumped, caught it. In the midst of shrieking, confusion and dust I managed to escape.

_**Roy's POV**_

"Roy…" Peach said breathlessly to me at the door. I didn't—well actually I did—know why it felt so good to hear her voice.

"Yeah, it's me. Listen; do you have the time…?" I made up my mind to tell her how I felt about her. No backing out.

"For?" She nervously asked.

"Er… to talk." I told her.

"Oh… you want to talk?" She sarcastically replied. Inwardly, I winced. I wish I hadn't been so late confessing that I liked her. "Sorry, I have no time for you right now." I knew what she was doing; making me feel guilty, making me feel destroyed and defeated. I knew that she had the rights to do that, but nevertheless it felt like the world had crashed on me.

"Yeah right, she doesn't!"

"Yeah she does!"

Samus and Zelda said at the same time (Samus saying the first statement frantically and Zelda saying the second)

"I need to help Samus search…" Peach mumbled, completing her sentence incoherently. She looked irritated at me and herself. I knew why she gave me an irritated look.

"Look…" I pleaded.

"Do I know you?" She gave me a questioning sarcastic look. "I'm sorry _Roy_ but I seriously have no time to talk. At all. Please leave." She gestured out the ajar door.

My shoulders drooped. I slumped out. Even my unruly hair finally seemed to get wilt even though I couldn't really tell. I turned around, to look at Peach one last time. She was looking at me in a peculiar expression. Her look seemed blank, and empty.

Then, _something_ ran in, knocking me aside. I fell into Zelda who squawked indignantly and kicked me off her, brushing herself of my cooties.

I rolled my eyes and then studied at the person in me. He was black. All black. Like he'd been colored in by an artist. Like a shadow. You could tell he had a large nose. Something else peculiar about him was that he was… _2-D_.

"Mr. Game & Watch?" Peach asked.

"Yeah." He seemed out of breath when he responded.

"What happened? What's that in your hand?" Peach asked.

Mr. Game & Watch turned to Samus and handed her a bit of parchment, "I suppose this belongs to you."

Samus let out a cry of thanks and clutched it at her heart. "Oh. My. God! Thank you! You don't know how much I needed this! You don't know how much this means to me!"

I smirked slightly. Peach shot me a nasty look. I covered up the smirk rather hastily.

Samus kissed the bottle of mascara in her hand, "Thank you tiny toilet brush with black glop in it that cost forty bucks! And what's its brand name? Raa-viii-sheing?" So while Samus kissed Peach ("Argh, get your lips off me! The only people who can touch me with those things are my future boyfriend and my mum and dad! And besides the _mascara_ **not** tiny toilet brush is called 'Ravishing' not whatever you said it was!") and Zelda, ("Yes, Samus… We know… you're happy… jeez louise. AH," She choked, as Samus squeezed tighter, "Too much love…") Mr. Game & Watch filled in with what ever happened.

At the end of his story Samus was whining, "Why Saria?"

And Zelda yelled, "That little… Insert the worst word possible here"

And Peach simply was grinning (Others would say stupidly but I kind of thought it was sexy) into space whispering, "It fits doesn't it?"

"What fits?" I asked.

The grin was wiped off her face and she faced me saying, "This is probably the reason _why_ Saria was magically transformed into some bad mooded meanie."

There was a pause at Peach's words. Then… "Hahahahaha! Really, you're too much…" Peach frowned.

"It was just a theory…" She muttered.

"Well, of course that's the reason." Zelda exasperatedly shouted. "Now, as I recall, I had—or should I say me and _Peach_ here—have a date with a mysterious young hunk." Zelda grabbed a surprised Peach and gave a flirtatious wink to us all (jokingly of course) and dashed out the door.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Well… I'd better get going." I said a moment later and walked out too, wishing I had said what I'd wanted to say.

_**Medusia's Diary**_

_Dear Diary,_

_My attempt of seduction to Marth has failed. First Roy then him! Everybody else falls for me and my dashing good looks but not those two! The ones I have always been reserved for. Instead they've fell for these two plain-faced girls. No matter… When I'm rich and powerful I'll be able to control both of them and not just one. They'll beg for mercy. And once I get those map pieces, no one will stop me! Hm… I wonder why I'm being so evil… Maybe it's father's influence. Whatever, I've got to prepare an outfit for my little appointment I have today… or should I say tomorrow since this is soo late at night, or rather sooo early in the morning. Anyway… I suppose that's it! Ta-ta diary!_

_**Samus's POV**_

**(A/N: This is after Peach told Zelda about the note. Samus was eavesdropping on them both)**

"I still don't understand why we couldn't tell Samus." Zelda asked, frowning, "I mean, she _will_ get angry if somebody doesn't tell her and she finds it out on her own."

"Are you stupid!" Peach said in a frustrating manner, "Look at this passage here! It says that if we told Samus what's going on she might die!" She jabbed her finger at the letter that she'd received from the midget.

I studied Zelda's face as her eyes widened in horror. "We-ell…" She stammered, "It could be a bluff. Anyway, why isn't Samus specifically not allowed to come?"

"We can't take any more chances in times like this," Peach sighed shredding the letter into tiny bits and blowing them off her palm, "And isn't it obvious to why Samus can't come? She obviously has a map piece and we don't. Maybe this anonymous person has a grudge against Samus or something. Oh I don't know!" She threw her hands up.

I couldn't believe it. I'd finally felt at home in a girls group. I'd finally made friends with a girl like Peach and a girl like Zelda. But now? I felt like the third wheel. Why didn't they tell me about the note! It was obviously a bluff. And anyway, I wasn't called a bounty hunter for nothing; I could take care of myself pretty well. I guess some people like Peach just like baby-sitting me.

"It's alright, Peachy. You don't need all the answers…" Zelda rubbed Peach's shoulder comfortingly.

"You know what?" Peach's voice was slow before it became excited, like her light bulb had turned on (_Something that rarely happens_, I sourly thought before feeling guilty)

"What?" Zelda asked.

"What if… It's only a theory." Peach started excitedly. "What if this mystery person is…?"

"…Samus's mystery guy?" Zelda finished excitedly. "Yeah that could be it! I'll bet it is!"

"I'd bet my best mascara that it is!" Peach said.

Zelda raised an eyebrow, "Best mascara?" She asked quizzically.

"Hey! That cost me forty bucks! Now you argue whether that isn't expensive or not!"

"All I know is that you've been ripped off very badly." Zelda snickered

I watched their little happy scene with a feeling of anger bubbling sluggishly in my stomach. But excitement was in there too. I couldn't wait! What if it was my mystery guy?_ If Zelda and Peach didn't want me there, then they wouldn't know I would be there!_ I thought, planning to follow them.

_**Peach's POV**_

_**12:00 A.M, the hidden alleyway behind Hotel number 3**_

"Um… We're here." I heard Zelda call out softly.

I was nervous. I could feel eyes watching me but every time I spun around to look nobody was there. We were there at the same place. Hotel number three. So why wasn't anybody showing up?

I edged closer to Zelda who seemed as cautious as I, but not an ounce of fear showed in her eyes. She serenely surveyed her surroundings. I heard her mutter, "Coward," When I bumped into her slightly. I ignored her, knowing that I whatever she called me was probably true.

Somebody cried out and then moaned.

I sharply inhaled breath as my and Zelda turned toward the entrance. I saw a distinct figure slump to the ground.

"Someone's in trouble!" I urgently whispered but as I ran toward it, Zelda extended her arm and caught me painfully.

"It could be a trap." She said through gritted teeth. Her light blue eyes narrowed, while my dark blue ones contracted in fear.

"Show yourself!" She shouted.

There was a pause. Only the rustle of winds could be heard along with leaves scattering everywhere. Just when Zelda opened her mouth again there came a chuckle. A cold villainous chuckle.

Me and Zelda turned in opposite directions. Now I could feel Zelda's fear. Next to me she sparkled and turned a soft glowing white. An instant later Zelda turned into her alter-ego, Sheik.

"…Peach…" A weak cry came from the entrance of the alleyway. I recognized that voice. But it was so weird to hear it being weak.

"Samus?" Sheik whispered in her hoarse voice.

Sheik motioned me to stay here. Then she edged toward the figure. I watched her crouch down, feeling a sense of dread and forbiddance. I wanted Sheik to stay by me. But I also knew that Samus was probably badly wounded or she wouldn't moan like the way she did now. Besides, I didn't want to sound selfish so I stayed quiet.

But that was my mistake. A cold hand clapped over my mouth, the other hand slipping around my hands.

"Caught you." A feminine voice said smugly.

I didn't know who she was but I knew I had to get out of this mess. Fast. The only trouble was that I was so panicked that I couldn't think properly. _Oh Sheik…She was waiting for you to move away from me all along. It was a trap! How naïve could I get?_

"Now, why did Samus come here?" The voice growled to me. I felt cloth being tied around my mouth, legs and feet. But that's not what bothered me. Hadn't I heard this voice before? Sort of like… A memory…

"Don't recognize me yet, do you Peach?" The voice mockingly inquired. Where had I last heard this voice talk like this?

Of course. How could I be so stupid? This was my ex-best friend's voice. Medusia.

**_Sheik's POV/Zelda's POV_**

"Sh…" I whispered as Samus moaned. Her hand clutched at her hip. She moaned faintly once again and her eyes were shut. Her breathing was labored and heavy.

"Zelda…" She moaned. I didn't bother to tell her that she should call me Sheik. "It's… a trap! Go back… to… Peach." She gasped. Then she tried to tell me something but I hushed her.

"Peach can take care herself. Right now you can't." I kneeled and pressed the button that made her armor go back into her watch again. Then I gently removed her hand from her hand. As much as I didn't want to do it, I unbuttoned her pants and studied the wound on her hip. Where there was usually smooth white skin there was now an ugly, purple welt etched. I gingerly touched it as if it were my own wound. Samus gave a sharp intake of breath. She became tense, but didn't say anything, just tightened her eyelids in pain.

"Listen, Sheik. Peach is in trouble. Just look and you'll know what I mean." Samus said through gritted teeth, while I transformed back into Zelda (A/N: Only Zelda can heal wounds, not her alter-ego).

I ignored her and called upon my power; making my hands glow a faint blue then I placed them on her thigh. When I removed my hand the welt was gone. Samus buttoned her pants back up and stood up, gingerly putting weight on it. "Thanks, Zelda." She whispered in relief. "Now… as I was saying, Peach is in trouble. It's a trap. I shouldn't have come. We have to-"

Her sentence was cut off when something was tied around her mouth, arms and legs. A second later mine was too. Then something or some_one_ kicked us hard in the legs so we both lost our balance and fell. I felt myself hitting the floor. If only someone could save us!

_**General POV**_

Once the three captured girls were unwillingly tied to chairs and there gags removed, a dying beam of light that came from a flash light flickered on.

"Medusia." Peach said under her breath.

"You know her?" Samus asked.

"I did. Or I once thought I did. Medusia used to be my best friend until we both fell for Roy. Then, we got into fights because of him and we promised to break contact because that was the only solution to stop our fight. But I guess not." She added, glaring at the pretty girl in front of them who was dressed in velvet, dark blue, medieval style dress. Medusia amusedly returned the glare.

"Well, well, well. I _was_ going to only talk to the both of you," She gestured to Peach and Zelda, "But if you'd rather bring-"

Samus asked, "Why don't you want me to listen?"

"Well, I wouldn't be likely to tell you now, would I?" She harshly giggled (A/N: I know, those two words don't go together!) Then her amused expression became blank and expressionless and she started her story…

_**Samus's POV**_

"My father, or rather foster father is Master Hand," She started, not looking at us, but instead choosing to look at the floor "He was forced to care for me as a baby, and I think he is rather ashamed of caring for me. At first I didn't care a whit about him. Why should I? I had everything I needed. All the toys, cosmetics, EVERYTHING I needed. But as I grew up, I wondered whether a hand could actually be my father. Eventually he told me that I was forced under care by him. I won't tell you how exactly I was. That remains a secret **(A/N: this is the sequel I might do!)**. Anyhow, I grew up pampered like a princess. Some would call me spoiled," She laughed as if that notion were ridiculous, "but nevertheless I grew up living in luxury. Then Master Hand decided to put me in the local public school, _Nintendo High_ so I knew how to live like…" She paused to find a word insulting enough, "…a commoner.

"There I met Peach, the popular one. Of course, I knew all about power and knew I simply had to make friends with her to be on top of it all. It felt so wonderful knowing that I had all the attention that I needed. Then _it_ happened." She glared at Peach with hatred. "Peach fell for Roy. And when I found out about that, I decided for myself that he was very handsome too. And so… We both started to fight and that whole while Roy was too shy to come out and tell us who he liked more. I suppose he didn't want to hurt Peach's feelings. I was enraged. So Peach, with her innocence," She snorted the word, 'innocence' like Peach wasn't innocent, "and _wit_," She also said that sarcastically, "said that we should break up our friendship and call it a neutral. Of course, I agreed. Then, my _dear father_, who never paid attention to me, planned this Smash Test thing. Whoever passed would be the "Chosen Ones", whatever that meant. I was angry. He paid more attention to you then me! It was decided that I would be entrusted with the only _twelve_ map pieces. I decided to send the first map piece to Marth who was the first to receive one. I knew he was a gullible boy who fell for girls as pretty as I. And I sort of liked him. But then, I didn't know he liked a particular girl."

At this point, Medusia's mad-happy glint in her eyes turned an icy cold and stared at me while she started again.

"So, in the dead of the night, I watched my Marth dress up in this black cape thing or whatever it was and climb to your porch on the very first day. I saw him give it to _you_," She pointed a manicured finger at me, glaring, "And then you tried unmasking him but of course, Marth didn't let you know it was him. And even after he gave you the map piece, he visited you after a couple more times in that ludicrous disguise of his." She paused for breath and waited in what (for me at least) was a dramatic effect.

Marth? It couldn't be… the mysterious person was… Marth? I could feel Zelda and Peach, craning to get a good look at me, fearful of what I might do. But I just numbly stared at my knees. I'd told him that I didn't love him when I actually… did. This didn't make any sense. How could _Marth_ be him? But then after thinking about it for a little while, I realized that Marth could've done it. If I ever got out of this mess… the first person I would speak to would be Marth.

I finally pulled myself together and continued to listen to Medusia's story.

_**Zelda's POV**_

"I finally grew bored of this whole test thing," Medusia was looking at me now, "And I especially hated how Master Hand never seemed to have time for me. _Me!_" She shrieked loudly causing a few spare birds to flap away. The hate in her eyes increased alarmingly, "_I_ his only child! _I_ the only person who he had a right to care for! So… I decided to ruin the tournament. I decided to use Saria as one of my henchmen, knowing she would help me. After all, that ugly little butt wasn't pretty and she was just a lowly-life sprite."

"She is not!" I protested, not entirely sure why I was sticking up for my worst enemy.

Medusia ignored me and continued, "I snuck around in Saria's room and gathered information. She was jealous of… _you_." This time she pointed at me giving me a nasty grin.

"I made her steal your diary, and know your secrets. I made her threaten Link. The stupid little prat didn't want to hurt Link but I forced her to do it, saying that she'd sign her own death warrant if she didn't agree to what I said. She of course, obeyed me. _She_ went out with Link and the only reason why she did that was to hurt you." She was mainly speaking to me now.

"Eventually, I made her do nastier things. I made her steal Samus's map piece, although that plan didn't go too well. Some crummy 2-D stole it from us." I couldn't help but think of Mr. Game & Watch and I almost smiled. "I made her do all sorts of things." She continued, "I even made her kill Malon, saying that I would make sure Malon wouldn't get harmed." At that point she grinned like a mad-man… er… _woman_.

"You never kept your promises." Spat Peach glaring at her with extreme hatred and disgust while Samus was still numb from the shock of Marth, kept her head down.

Medusia smirked and said sarcastically, "You know me oh so well, Peach. Anyhow, getting back to the story. Saria, of course, blamed herself for killing Malon which made her guilty on the double." Medusia paused, before giving me a bittersweet smile, "And now that you know your whole truth I'll tell you what I did to Peach.

_Poor Saria,_ was all I could think. In my mind, I mentally forgave her for everything she did.

_**Peach's POV**_

I was so mad. How could Medusia do this? I stared at her defiantly before speaking first. "Let me guess what you did to me. It was you who flooded the elevator and let me guess, hm… did you persuade James to rape me?"

Medusia frowned truly for the first time, "I told James to steal Samus's map piece but I suppose he got you both mixed up. Anyway, yes Peach. I was quite tired of you. I hated you. You weren't brilliant. You weren't this perfect little angel. True, you might have a bit of good looks but they don't match my beauty and even you have to admit it." She said. Yes, I knew my looks didn't match her beauty, but did she honestly have to rub it in?

"Face it, Peach. Here was some stupid jerk who was one of the most popular girls in school. And I never was as popular as you. You robbed me of my much needed attention. So when James told me that the "rape" didn't go as planned because a certain _swordsman_ saved you…"

"You must mean swords_men_. Link and Marth saved me." I said, frowning at the snobby girl in front of me.

"Correction: one swordsman by the name of _Roy_ saved you." She spat out his name. "And I was most certainly surprised when the same person saved you from the drowning of the elevator. What did he see in you anyway?" She screamed it out in fury.

Another surprise for me. _Roy?_ Why did he lie to me about not rescuing me? I knew it was him… but… why didn't he say that it was him? And how come Marth said he saved me?

"Don't think you're so special Peach." She snarled, noticing my dazed, happy expression. Damn, I had to work on keeping my face blank. "Just because Roy happened to save you _twice_ in a row doesn't mean he likes you. In fact," She triumphantly reached into a pocket and withdrew a tiny vial with lavender liquid inside, "I'll make sure he doesn't fall in love with you and only falls in love with yours truly!" She gave me a wink, indicating herself.

"Yeah, what's that supposed to be? A love potion?" I snickered, not believing it.

I wish I'd kept my mouth shut.

"As a matter of fact, yes." She sniffed.

I exchanged looks with Samus and Zelda. We all burst out laughing, despite the fact we were bound up and forced sitting in chairs. And we had the possibility that we were going to die. "You don't believe me?" Her eyes darkened. "I've had it tested. And tomorrow morning, before I kill you all, I'll make sure you take back that laugh when Roy only has his eyes set on me!"

I glared at her again, I opened my mouth to give an angry retort but before I could a bunch of arrows came from the top of Hotel Number 3 and struck Medusia on her clothes only. They came down with such force, that when they pierced her clothes they drove right into the wall, leaving her hanging there. I counted two on each arm and two on each leg. Eight arrows.

Then a voice I knew all too well came from the entrance of the alleyway retorted for me, "Wanna bet?"

Two figures were at the end of the alleyway. One had unruly hair. Roy. The other was garbed in a black cloak with a hood pulled over his head (aka Marth)

¤§۞§¤

Yay! The end!... For this Chapter anyway… More to come later…


	10. Connection

Yeah, yeah, don't flame me for never updating. Check my profile for my list of excuses. --hint hint- it has to do with my laptop

Anyway, Young Link is currently sick today and will not be tortured by me today.

Y. Link: -from background- I heard that!

And thanks for everybody who reviewed. You guys totally rock! 58 reviews in nine chapters T-T. you guys are the best. This is the more than Clearing the Truth. So Muchas Gracias (My Spanish sucks, so don't bother correcting me)

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Zelda blinked. Once. Twice. But it was true. Marth, Roy and... Link. A swelling rose into her chest that resembled a balloon.

Medusia ripped her clothes from the arrows. She snarled and lunged forward, knocking the girls to the floor. She procured a dagger from the folds of her sleeve and positioned it right to Samus's neck. Then she kicked Zelda and Peach powerfully behind her (The chairs had magically disappeared, but they were still bound. They slammed into the alley wall Medusia had been pinned against earlier. They slumped to the floor, completely unconscious.

"If you come any closer, I will slash this across her neck." Medusia snarled, in an inhuman voice that scared Marth and Roy. They flinched, and halted in their tracks, a mere 5 feet away from Samus.

Marth threw back his hood. He shook his bluish black hair out of his face and stared at Samus. His eyes held no emotion. They did not flicker with worry. He took a step forward.

Medusia's dagger lowered an inch closer...

"Are you insane!" Roy called out to Marth. He worriedly looked at Samus.

"No. She isn't worth saving. But Medusia _is_ worth killing." Marth's emotionless voice eerily penetrated the air.

Medusia smiled a feral smile, "I'm glad somebody thinks the same about Samus." Her body shifted to a more comfortable position, but she did not stop pinning down Samus. Samus eyed the dagger warily. Marth took another step closer to Medusia. She brought the dagger closer to Samus's face. Even from Link's point of view, he could see her face paling. He didn't blame her. He silently leaped down from the building. He was lucky Medusia didn't see him.

Medusia pressed the flat of the blade to Samus's neck. Samus gasped upon feeling the cold, smooth surface of the dagger pressed unmercifully against her neck. _Bounty Hunters don't gasp in fear, She thought_. She had to pull herself together. _C'mon Samus you can do this. Don't die like a coward. And if you died at least in hell or heaven you can boast about fighting to death._

Samus eyed Marth. He looked her in the eye too. It felt like fifty daggers had pierced her. The look he gave her was so... cold. Emotionless. _Then again… he has a right to reject me… I did it to him too…_ She thought.

Suddenly she felt a stinging sensation across her neck. She drew her breath sharply. She saw Medusia lifting the dagger. The dagger was bloodstained at the tip.

"How does it feel powerless, and unable to move, Samus? How does it feel to know when your going to die?" Medusia asked.

_Die? I can't die! Not while this piece of crap is still alive. And anyway… I promised mother…_ Samus forced herself to not think of that. She knew she would get teary thinking of her mother's death and her promise not to die. To live as the only survivor of her planet. And to pass on her race's blood.

Medusia smiled cruelly. She looked at Samus struggling not to cry. She brought the dagger down…

"NO!" Roy and Link screamed.

Samus's hands flew up. _I will not die… I will not die… I WILL NOT DIE! _Samus gripped the dagger. Medusia's eyes widened. "Thought I would die, did you?" Samus growled. She gritted her teeth and pushed the dagger off her. It flew off and pierced the ground, inches away from Marth.

Samus pulled her fist back. She was angry. She was angry at herself, at Marth, and most of all at the person who was sitting on her. She launched it and it hit Medusia on the jaw. Medusia was knocked off of her and landed on the floor. Samus pressed the button on her watch (A/N: I don't know how Samus puts on her armor so I'm going to make it come from her watch!) and suddenly metal snaked around her body. Her helmet appeared on her head and she stood up. She warily watched Medusia who was gingerly feeling the purpled bruise on her cheek. She glared at Samus.

"Thought that was funny did you?" Her glare was full of hate.

"Actually no. But, you mess with my friends, you'll mess with me." Samus looked at Medusia. Something odd was happening here…

Medusia was transforming into something. A snake? A gigantic one, its body as huge as a tree trunk and stretching as high as the alley walls.

_Oh no! You really overdid it this time Samus. Pull yourself together and fight. Remember how you fought Kraid. This is just like it. Except I'm not fighting just for me this time, I'm fighting for Link, Roy, Peach, Zelda and… Marth. God knows how bad I've hurt him. I need to make it up. I just wish I wasn't such a jerk._ Samus's thoughts were cut off, when the long black serpent lunged at her. Marth stood a little way off. Was it her imagination or did his hands twitch when he saw her getting attacked? Whatever it was, Samus could not dwell on it any longer.

Its eyes were yellowish green. Samus in particular hated snakes. Her mother, a superstitious human, often told her snakes always boded ill. She fired a missile at Medusia, but as a snake it was easy to dodge projectiles. _And that's bad because my projectiles are always handy! I can't get close to her, without the danger of her sinking those fangs at me or winding around me. What am I going to do!_ Samus launched her energy ball at Medusia, but she kept dodging.

"Tired yet?" The serpent-girl hissed at Samus. Samus was sweating, and the heat of being inside a helmet didn't make things any better. Samus knew she was tiring fast. _I _have_ to hit her using something other than a projectile. I have to get close to her even if I die._

The heat inside Samus's helmet was unbearable now. She wondered why the oxygen wasn't flowing into her mask, but then concluded that the helmet must've malfunctioned when Medusia had hit her when she sneaked here at first (In the previous chapter). She took off her helmet and dropped it to the floor.

_You'll pay for this._ She thought. Summoning up all her energy, she sprinted on Medusia's scaly back, and whacked her on the head with her hand that had a canon on it. Medusia roared. She transformed back into a human.

Samus gave a cocky grin. Medusia clutched her head. Blood was oozing out.

Behind, Peach gave a groan. "My head. What just… happened?"

Zelda was stirring as well. She sighed. "Oh Din, I must've gotten a concussion."

"Hey guys." Samus said. Exhaustion took over her. She managed a wan smile before she collapsed on the floor. She sat up weakly.

"Samus… you look like you've defeated some super villain." Peach exclaimed. She tried to get up, but she fell back and leaned against the wall.

_Well aren't you a rocket scientist._ Samus thought sarcastically.

"Are you guys okay?" Samus asked. She pressed the little button on her watch and the armor compacted back into her watch.

"Except for my head, I'm doing fine." Zelda smiled. _This is weird. I can't seem to spot Medusia anywhere. If Samus _did_ defeat her, which it seems she has, why can't I see a corpse?_ Zelda asked herself. Her eyes roamed around the dark alleyway. _She could be hiding in the shadows._ Zelda quickly used Din's fire. She got up and began to walk around. _I don't like the look of this. This is weird. She completely disappeared._

Peach in the meantime had crawled over to Samus. "He's waiting for you." She whispered in Samus's ear.

"Huh?" Samus asked stupidly. She couldn't comprehend with what was going on.

_Sheesh, and I thought I was the stupid one_. Peach rolled her eyes. "Marth, I think he's waiting for you." Peach said.

Samus looked. Her heartbeat quickened, despite her exhaustion. Marth was staring at her. But a pang shot through her when she realized he wasn't smiling. Not even a trace of worry, or happiness remained on his face. He was still giving her the same empty, cold look. _I have to talk to him._

With a lot of effort, she got up. And then she walked up to Marth. "Can we talk?" she asked.

"What is there to talk about?" Marth asked. Samus was shocked to find out that even his voice held venom in it.

"I just want to talk." Samus asked. Her heart was still pounding, and her hands had turned cold.

"Fine." He crossed his arms. Samus hated the way he looked down at her.

They walked some distance away from everyone. That's when Marth faced her. "Marth…" She asked in a tiny voice. "I just wanted to say that… I'm sorry."

"For what?" His gaze was hard.

"I kind of found out the truth. About you. And I realized that even when I rejected you, I still found out that…" Samus swallowed. Oftentimes she hated sappy moments like this. But now she realized how hard it was to say it. _Just get through this now. You've gone so far._ "I kinda… like you."

"As friends?" Marth's eyebrows rose.

_Don't make this so difficult, you idiot!_ She wanted to yell. But she didn't say that. She swallowed again. Between defeating Medusia and confessing her love to Marth, she'd pick defeating Medusia. How were these things so hard? "N-no." She stammered. "I—not as a friend. I l-l-" She couldn't say it. What would he think about her? _Just do it._ "Marth, I love you." There. She'd said it. Now all she'd have to do is wait for a response.

She didn't have to wait that long.

Marth turned around facing his back toward her. "Samus, I have to tell you that I don't love you. I can't leave you under false hopes. This relationship just won't work out."

Samus looked down. She was disappointed. No, far worse than that. She wished the earth would swallow her and leave her falling.

"I hope we can still be friends though." He said.

Samus felt a surge of anger at that. She didn't know why. She didn't respond.

_**In The Alleyway**_

"Don't move." A voice hissed. Suddenly an arm wound around Zelda. And then something was forced down her throat. She coughed and sputtered. But some of it had slipped down her throat. All she felt was a floating sensation. Then she dropped to the floor, completely unconcious.



"Zelda?" Peach asked tentatively.

"What's up?" a voice said behind her. Peach turned around. Her hand hit the person behind her.

"Ouch!" Peach saw Roy behind her. She flushed. _Oops._

"Ah… sorry." She couldn't help laughing a little at the sight of him rubbing his nose. She liked the shape of his nose. It was so straight and nicely shaped, with no bumps. It was perfect. Then she remembered Zelda.

She got up, feeling slightly better. Her cheeks were slightly red from how close to Roy she was ever since she'd discovered whom her rescuer really was, even though he was about three feet away from her.

"D'you need any help?" He asked. His nose, she noticed feeling slightly guilty, was red.

_Aw… he's offering me help. Just like a gentleman. Get a hold of yourself Peach._ "Er… I'm fine. Really." She added, when he held out his arm for her.

She took a few steps to where she heard Zelda. It was in a particularly shady spot. _Wait a second. Something isn't right. Oh gosh. If Samus did defeat Medusia… where's her body?_ Peach thought. Her eyes scanned the area. There was no trace of the villainess. _What if she's taken Zelda as hostage? Oh no!_ With that thought, she hurried to the spot. Just as she was about to go to the spot, a white arm reached out and snatched her in the shadows. Peach opened her mouth to scream, but the arm was stuffed in her mouth.

"So princess. I know your talent lies in your screaming, but not this time." A hiss sounded in her ear. Peach struggled against her attacker. Suddenly the arm came out of her mouth and she opened her mouth again to scream. Liquid suddenly came from nowhere and was stuffed down her throat. Medusia grabbed Peach's neck and pushed it up, so she found herself staring at the starry sky. Peach tried to spit out whatever was in her mouth. It tasted bittersweet like blood. A hand clamped on her mouth so she couldn't spit it out. Eventually she was forced to swallow it.

It felt like she was leaving her body. She felt… light… like she was about to fly. And then she saw Roy running. She tried to warn him, but no sound came out of her voice. Then the ground came down to meet her and she blacked out.

"Peach? Zelda?" Link called out. There was no reply. He exchanged a look with Roy. They crept toward the shadowy area. They drew out their swords and entered.

"They're unconscious?" Roy asked. He knelt down next to Peach, examining her face up close. Her face, through all the dirt and grime, was very pretty. Roy blushed lightly. She looked like an angel, with her hair spread out around her, like a bed of gold. Her face, though unclean looked peaceful. Relaxed. _Peach…_ He reached a hand and stroked her smooth cheek and wiped off the dirt from her skin.

"Do you think they were so tired that they just… fainted?" Link asked. Like Roy, he was examining Zelda. She'd fallen on her face, so he had to turn her over. He removed the hair from her face, noticing her kind and wise face. Although Link had always thought Zelda as this sort of person, looking at her like this, always made him think that it was the first time he'd seen her. With a surge of anguish, he wished none of this would ever had happened. They were so happy together. And this little dilemma had to happen. It was just like Fate had gotten bored of them, and decided to put a little test to their relationship.

"As soon as they reached the same place? Nah. Someone… I think, has done this to them. But…" Roy examined Peach's body. "I don't see a cut, or bruise. She looks the same as before."

"Same here." Link also examined Zelda. Her dress was torn and dirty in some places but no blood dripped. Link's keen eyes did notice the small lump on her head, that she'd received when she was slammed against the wall. Anger churned in his chest. He suddenly wished he had healing powers.

"What d'you think we should do?" Roy asked. He bit his lower lip and finally took his eyes off Peach and onto Link.

"Well… we can't just leave them here. Should we just drop them off in their hotel room?" Link asked.

"Yeah and how are we supposed to do that?" Roy asked. He knew the answer Link was going to give, but he decided to play dumb for now. "In case if you haven't noticed, they can't walk while they're unconscious. And I don't think they're going to wake up any time soon."

"Well, we could carry them." Link suggested. He knew he sounded like an eager pervert, but he could not see any other way. Besides, deep inside he wanted to be close to Zelda.

"Are you mad! I'm not carrying Peach!" Roy, unlike Link, did not like the feeling that was deep inside. He found it distracting. And he was a little scared. _This feeling has never happened to me before. Not with any of the other girls I've dated. Maybe its because I love…? Oh please, that's impossible! I'm still too young and immature for love._ But the possibility nagged him.

"Well I don't see any other way. And anyway, you never seemed to have a problem when you carried Peach out of the flood." Link pointed out.

"That was… I mean to say…" Roy spluttered, "The point is Link, is that I was pressured there. I had no idea what to do. And I had to do something fast. And anyway…" What more was there to say?

"That isn't a good enough defense Roy." Link said. He slid his arms underneath Zelda and picked up her near lifeless form. She was lighter than he'd expected. She wasn't completely weightless, but since he was tired, she didn't seem as heavy as he aspired her to be. "If you really do care about Peach…" He didn't complete his sentence. He didn't have to. Roy knew what he was going to say.

Did he care about her? _Well obviously as a friend… or less._ He thought. He just couldn't see how Link always knew what to do. Link seemed so sure of himself sometimes that it drew Roy completely mad.

Tentatively, he slid an arm around her back and her legs, and stood up. This was the second time, picking her up like this. He hugged her face to his chest. She was warm. He realized he actually liked it.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't the redhead." A voice from behind him said.

Roy turned around and swore. It was Medusia in her complete human form. She stood about ten feet away from him, her arms crossed, with a smug smirk, despite the dried blood caking her hair.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't the loser." He said mocking her. He knew he wasn't in any position to provoke her, seeing as his arms were currently occupied with Peach. But he couldn't help it.

Medusia's smile froze. She walked up to him. He backed away. "Are you scared of me?" She purred.

"Yeah. But then again, everybody would with that face." He shot back. What was wrong with him?

"Roy, _puh-leeze_ don't get me started on that."

Roy felt himself hit the brick wall. _Crap._ Medusia was very close to him. The only thing that separated them was Peach.

"Get away from me." He snarled.

"Aw… isn't that sweet." She grabbed his face, with her unblemished hand. She pulled him close. He could feel her breath on him now. A jumpy feeling was settling somewhere around his stomach. "You'll regret you ever said those words, my sweet." She whispered dangerously. Then she kissed him.

_Pull back!_ Roy thought. But he could not. Her hands had his head completely under his mercy. And suddenly a liquid issued into his mouth. He wrenched his face away from her. He coughed wetly. Some of the liquid came out. It tasted sweet. Horrifyingly sweet. He felt something go down his throat. It burned. _What is this? Poison? No that can't be. If I knew Medusia, this would be something else. _His vision started to blur. Then it focused again.

"Roy, my sweet. How does it feel to be madly in love?" She asked.

He was confused._ Madly… in… love? What is she talking about? What the heck did I just swallow?_

"Get away from me!" Roy snarled again. He slipped his hand off from under Peach's legs. He stood her up, and supported her against his other arm. Then he pushed Medusia roughly away.

She gave him a hurt look. Roy ignored her, as he swung Peach back into the lie down position. "What ever happened to being a gentleman?" She asked, pouting.

"What ever happened to being a lady?" I replied. I pushed past her and strode out, not waiting for a reply.

_**Outside the Alleyway**_

So that was it. Samus bitterly turned away. _Everything is ruined! And it's mostly my fault. I was too late. And now I have to pay for it._ Her back was toward Marth now. Samus forgot about being polite.

"I don't want to be a friend." She stated. She didn't know why, but she was angry as well as broken. _What a stupid emotion. Why is love even in this world? It only causes sorrow for the people that aren't pretty enough, rich enough, or nice enough for guys they like._ It wasn't fair.

"Samus?" It was Marth's voice.

"What?" She responded, annoyed.

"I-I'm sorry." Pain exploded from the back of Samus's head.

"Marth!" She screamed. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

_**The Next Day**_

_**Zelda's POV**_

"Wake up!" a hiss awakened me up by my ear.

"Uh…" I rolled over. "Leave me alone."

"Oh please, this is important!" Peach's whiny voice sounded by my ear.

"Go away! Let me guess, you lost your Super Ultra Mega Hairbrush?" I snapped. I pulled the blanket over my head.

"Zelda!" Samus wrenched the blanket from me. I scrunched my feet up. I didn't know why, but I felt so tired.

I sat up and sleepily surveyed myself in the mirror. "What!" I screamed. I jolted out of bed.

The girl staring back at me was a complete mess. Her dress was torn. There was a throbbing lump on her forehead. And to top it off, she was covered in dirt. "How did this happen?" I asked, looking at my identical twin in Mirror World.

"I'm not sure. I woke up like this too. Its like I did something at night." Peach frowned.

I tried to think of what happened yesterday. But everything was blurry. All I remembered was Peach telling me something about a meeting in the afternoon. But after that I couldn't tell.

"You seriously need a hairbrush." Peach said. She attacked my hair with a brush.

15 minutes later full of "ow"s and twitching, my hair looked normal. I took a hot shower and made my bed hastily.

"So, what's so urgent?" I asked. I wasn't in the mood to take any more news. I hated this place.

"Well, Young Link invited us to their room." Peach explained. "They said it was pretty important. So I figured… we'd go. Its at 2."

I glanced at the clock. It read 10:07. "And I had four more hours of sleep!" I grumbled, as Peach and Samus frog-marched me down the hallway. We reached the elevator.

"Uh… I'll take the stairs." Peach outwardly said.

"Peach, what's the point? It's not like the elevator's gonna attack you again." Samus impatiently said.

"Yeah… well, I still want to take them." Peach said quietly.

"Suit yourself." I said. Peach rushed off to take the stairs.

The elevator doors opened. A man in a dark suit, with a hulking figure was inside. He looked like he was in his fifties. A large white, panther-like cat was sitting right next to him. It looked magnificent and sleek, but it also held a cold look to it. The man looked up and stared at Samus. His lip curled and he rushed out of the elevator hurriedly, with the panther-like cat, striding along effortlessly, gracefully.

When we were in the elevator I commented, "Well, that was weird."

"What?" Samus apparently wasn't paying attention to whatever was going on.

"That guy was giving you this look. And that cat didn't look normal."

"So what?" Samus yawned, "In Nintendo city you meet weird people and weird creatures. For example, you're an elf from the past. I'm a bounty huntress from the future, and Peach is a princess someone from the present. Yet, we all live in the same era. Anyway, that cat looked like a Pokemon if you ask me. I just don't know which."

I had to admit that was true. It was pretty weird. I never talked to Samus or Peach before this "Test". I wasn't as popular as Peach. In fact, I didn't like her. I thought she was one of those girly-girls who were so shallow and dated guys for fame and money. It turns out that she _is_ girly girl, but she was… a nice type.

As for Samus; I didn't even know she existed. Well, I knew she was in my PE class and was a tomboy. I thought she was this toughie who had no feelings for anything. I guess was wrong about that too.

As for me, I was popular… but not as popular as Peach. I hung out with my own clique, and Peach hung out with her own, and Samus did too.

I wondered how we could all be friends now. In fact, it had only been a little over a week, and I considered them as my best friends. Was that even possible?

I stepped out of the elevator. Peach was waiting outside for us.

"Well, you took like, forever." She rolled her eyes at us.

"Well, we can't control how fast this thing goes anyway." Samus grouched at her.

"Well, use the stairs next time." Peach said, in her annoying "matter-of-fact" voice.

Samus rolled her eyes and ignored her. I wondered how far apart they really were. They were so different… yet so alike. I smiled to myself.

"What?" Samus asked suspiciously, noting my smile.

"Nothin'." I responded lightly.

"It looked like somethin' to me." Peach butted in.

"Nothing. Really." I said.

"Tell me!" Samus and Peach said at the same time (Samus demanding it and Peach whining)

"Nothing!" I said, missing Samus's punch narrowly. "Why are you so interested anyway?" I asked.

"Because you're my best friend." Peach said, clinging to my arm and groveling for effect. I raised my eyebrows. They seemed pretty curious today.

I just smiled and hugged them both. "What would I do without you guys?"

They really didn't know what was going through my head, because they gave me weird looks (Samus trying to break free).

We reached the breakfast lounge and sat near the window. I could see Link, Roy, and Marth clearly from this table without them knowing I was gawking at Link.

They were laughing at something stupid Marth just said. I watched Roy fling his bit of sausage at Marth, growling. It landed on his forehead and stuck there. Samus was watching too. A look of pure spite was on her face. She watched the scene dispassionately but didn't say anything. Peach was gawking, just like me. But she was looking at Roy instead. She unconsciously sighed.

"What's up with you?" Samus asked. She seemed pretty off mood after looking at Marth. I wondered why.

"What does it matter?" Snapped Peach. She seemed annoyed, being disrupted from her staring. "I notice I'm not the only one who's looking." She pointedly looked at Samus.

"Well, that's because I resolve never to talk to that blue-headed jerk again." A stream of curses followed, referring to the handsome prince. I wondered what he'd done to her to make her hate him.

While Peach and Samus bickered, I looked at Link. He was… so incredibly handsome. _No Zelda. You don't fall for people like him!_ One side of my conscience said.

_I don't?_ My other side argued weakly.

_No! Remember, he broke up with you, without telling you. And it was with Saria too!_

_Well… he probably did it for a reason. Remember what he said about Saria blackmailing him? I mean, why else does Link save me? Why else has he loved me for so long?_ I heard the side defending Link ask.

_He just wants you back because he doesn't like upsetting people. Anyway, what you're a princess. He's just the Hero of Time, whereas you are of royalty. For goodness sake, you rule Hyrule!_

_But… he's my Hero. _The side dreamily said. I was constantly reminded of the countless times he saved Hyrule and me. _He's a good person at heart. He means no harm. I can't imagine Link two-timing me for no reason. He's always been there for me. I wish I'd never rejected him. But there's nothing I can do now. Is there?_

_No._

_Yes! Swallow your pride Zelda, and ask him. You love each other. You guys were meant for each other. Buck up._

But I knew I couldn't. I was a princess. And princesses do not swallow their pride easily. It was included with being a princess.

I watched him, unaware he was staring back at me. _His eyes… so blue. They're… staring at me! Oh no! He must think I'm some stalker or pervert!_ I quickly averted my eyes. He disappointedly looked the other way.

"Oh please. Just lay off each other for once." I sighed at Samus and Peach. They were still arguing and it seemed that they would never stop. They weren't even arguing about staring anymore. They were arguing about how heartless Samus was and how stupid Peach was.

_**Ice Climbers, Young Link, and Ness's Preparation**_

"Everything ready?" Ness called out.

Popo, Nana and Young Link looked up. Nana and Popo were done with the cleaning and Ness was done with the refreshments, but Young Link was unsuccessful with the moving the bed. Nana giggled at the sight of him, grunting with effort to push the bed, his back leaning on the bed, and his little face turning red.

He turned redder hearing her voice. "Got a problem?" He roughly asked.

"Well, anybody would laugh seeing how red your face is!" she taunted.

He growled at her. He seemed to be pretty moody these days. "Shut up!" He fiercely said.

Nana raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down. It was a trick, taught by one of her Eskimo buddies named Lola. Lola was way different from Nana.

Young Link looked more irritated at her. "Didn't I tell you-"

"No!" Ness yelled as Young Link lost his temper and lunged at Nana. He collided headfirst into her waist, and they toppled to the floor wrestling.

"Nana!" Popo said warningly. Nana looked up. Her teeth were clamped on his arm and he was wincing in pain. His hand had grabbed a fistful of Nana's hair and was tugging it so hard she was beginning to tear.

_Ding dong!_

"Oh no! They're here!" Ness cried. He furiously faced Young Link and Nana, "You two better get that bed out of the way, or I'll be making chop suey from your flesh. Now!" He hissed.

They immediately began to push the bed. Seeing Ness mad, made them scared. His eyes were actually glowing a bluish color. But despite them being afraid, they still hated each other, and tried to trip each other.

_What a prat. Stupid yellow head of his must be full of dustbunnies!_ She thought annoyed and she attempted to shove the bed toward the wall.

_Dumb, girl! She's worse than Saria. Sheesh, she just doesn't know how to accept the fact that other people are better than her. _Young Link thought.

Out of frustration, and their power combined, they managed to get the bed to the side.

Meanwhile, Adrenaline and Kirby had burst through the door, or rather Adrenaline, with Kirby swallowing a hamburger and fries in one huge gulp.

Adrenaline had not seen Ness opening the door so when she'd come in, she ran into Ness and they became a heap on the floor.

"Ah… sorry Adrenaline." Ness said, blushing furiously._ God, she seems to be looking good today. I mean, even under those paint smears._

"S'okay." Adrenaline said cheerfully. She barely acknowledged that fact and disentangled herself from him. She faced Popo brightly and said, "So are we the first to come?"

"Uh… yeah." Popo stammered. Popo did not like Adrenaline. She was way too hyper for his own good.

"Coolness!" she squealed. She jumped on the bed, completely ruining the neat look to it and asked Popo, "So when does the party start?" She asked.

"When everybody arrives." Ness started to say, but Adrenaline ignored him.

"This place is so neat. There's not a piece of dirt here! Now this is a room my mom would love!" She said, bouncing on the bed.

Ness smiled. Popo grimaced. And Young Link and Nana were too busy trying to stomp on each other's feet to notice the goofy grin Ness was portraying and the look Popo was giving could kill. Quite literally.

Meanwhile, Kirby had swallowed half of the refreshments and was burping richly. Adrenaline twitched. She did not like burping. Or rather she did not like burping if it didn't come from her. "Ew… stop burping-"

Whatever she was to say next was drowned out by a loud doorbell noise.

"I'll get that!" Ness soared for the door, but in his eagerness, he collided into Adrenaline again and the lot of them toppled to the floor. _Oh no, she must now really think me a klutz! Ness why do you do this to yourself?_ Using his telekinesis he picked himself off her and brushed himself off, blushing even more furiously.

Popo smoothly opened the door and his smile froze when he saw whom it was.

"Can I help you?" he nervously asked the green-haired girl. She looked young, perhaps a little older than him, but her face looked teen enough.

"Yeah whatever." The girl snapped. "I'm here for the meeting, savvy? Is this the correct time, date and room?"

"Uh… sure. But who are you?" Popo raised an eyebrow. He fingered his hammer tentatively.

"Saria. I'm… a-a friend of Link's." She stammered, and the light in her eyes showed something like a sad sort of reminisce. _Link… I'm sorry I hurt the friendship we had between us and I hope that after this is all over you will be my friend still. And I also hope you find out that I helped out that redheaded friend of yours. I need to tell you these things. If I don't… I'll die seeing that hurt look on your face…_

"Sure come on in."

Seconds later the doorbell rang. A number of people ran in. And within minutes, the whole room was full of people.

Ness cleared his throat nervously. "So is anybody else coming in? He referred to his checklist and saw that all the main guests had been checked off. At any rate, only three extra people uninvited had come: Saria, Krystal, and Adrenaline.

Nana, Popo and Young Link joined the young psychic at the front of the room. "Well… er… ah..." Ness stammered. He cleared his throat again.

"What he wants to say is, anybody who has a map piece come forward." Nana impatiently said, "Please." She added.

Automatically a whole group of people stood up. Young Link scrutinized them. Luigi, Mario, Yoshi, DK, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, Fox, Link, Samus, and Kirby all stood up. It looked really weird that a group of people (that mostly were all older than Nana) were listening to the young Eskimo.

"Hold out your map piece and form a circle." Popo politely added next.

The group formed a circle, Fox being the first and Ness being the last.

The map pieces began to glow faintly…

END OF CHAPTER 10

Wow. This is weird. I finally updated. Hahaha… okay guys, review! I need to see at least a grand total of 65 reviews by chapter ten.


	11. The House of Insanity Pt 1

11--- yeah… I'm back. Unfortunately, my line at the bottom DIDN'T SHOW UP AGAIN! Grrrrr… Anyway.. its cool.

Young Link: SUURE IT IS

Shut up! Anyway, I can't be more pleased to say that I have actually plucked up the courage to continue a story like this! Awesome. I don't know what's wrong with me right now.

Y. Link: I do… she has ADD (attention deficit disorder)

SHUT UP YOU LITTLE INSECT!

Y. Link: Might I add she is also PMSing… what ever that is…

I am not! -**blushes furiously-** you shouldn't be talking about that stuff anyway!

Anyway… in this chapter, you shall find out about Marth's weird behavior and hopefully my cliffhanger.

Also, I have repeated fifty-kabillion times, but to people who don't know, I haven't played Fire Emblem, so I don't know a thing about Roy or Marth. Therefore, I am going to make up stuff about them in this chapter (actually Marth… not Roy)

**Another note: Recently I found out I am the stupidest person when it comes to name. Adrenaline's name isn't ACTUALLY Adrenaline. Hahahaha, what a joke. It's actually Adeleine. So don't be alarmed to see a new character.**

 (Apparently a Mac doesn't use my symbols… so I have to settle with these)

_**Continuing Where we left off**_

_**DK's POV**_

It was glowing. Rather faintly at first, but it grew brighter. Kirby and Ness nervously took a tiny step backward. Suddenly pain seared through my arm as if I had been burned. I sucked in my breath and watched everybody else holding the map put on a face that suggested pain. I almost let go but I kept on.

_**BANG!**_

A cloud of smoke engulfed the room, and I was nearly thrown off my feet. Since I was the only heavyweight holding the map, I was blown a few feet away. Everybody else was thrown off their feet. Wind coursed through my pudding-bowl hair, flipping it backward.

Everybody stared at the map, afraid of what would happen next.

Young Link was the first to venture forward. He looked at the map. "Wow." He gasped. He pointed to it. "Its… its whole! It's the whole map piece!"

He tried to pick it up but he cried out in pain the moment his fingers brushed across it. He clutched his hand and looked at his palm. It was raw and shiny, as if he'd been burned.

Murmurs rippled throughout the room. "How are we supposed to know where to go if we can't even touch it?" I heard Link complaining to Mario, who in reply shrugged his shoulders.

I was struck by a sudden possibility. I took a tentative step forward. Nobody paid attention except for Mr. Game and Watch.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you stupid or stupid?" He asked. He obviously knew what I was going to do

"Neither." Young Link probably couldn't pick it up because he never had a map piece in the first place. That probably meant that... I could touch it at least.

I reached down, shut my eyes and braced myself for pain. Then I leaned down and felt the parchment. No burn, although it felt warm. Like the sun's rays. And it was also dry. So dry it seemed to be sucking the moisture out of my finger.

I picked it up. I saw many things labeled on this map. I could already tell it was enchanted because black dots moved around on here. They represented people. Most of them were in their room. I quickly located the room we were currently in and noticed that there were 12 dots that were colored silver, rather than black. I assumed that the 12 represented the people with the map pieces.

I suddenly felt special. I was one of the few who could hold this map! I quickly ran a broad finger to the place we were supposed to go. Master Hand's office. It was located in between two rides. But there was also a tiny house blocking the way. I frowned at that. A house in a theme park? It looked like we had to go through the house in order to get to the office.

"Shut up everybody. Look! DK is touching it!" Mario pointed at me. Everybody instantly grew quiet.

I told them that only people who had possessed the map pieces from before could have touched them. After what I told them they started talking again.

"Can it!" Ness shouted. Everybody stopped. "Now that we've figured a way to go there, we're going to go and see Master Hand and we'll see if he can stop this madness and let us go, understood?"

A murmur of assent coursed through the crowd. "Now follow me." He said. "Can I borrow this?" he asked me. I gave it to him and we marched outside.

_**Marth's POV**_

"We've been going in circles for an hour already!" Peach whined. She cursed for the millionth time as she tripped on her heel again.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Samus annoyed, annoyed. She tried snatching it from Ness but he eluded her easily.

How could I possibly face her? I felt so ashamed. And now that I thought about it, I supposed my deal wasn't even worth it.

Even my own brain asks why I did it.

_-Flashback-_

_Marth groaned. "Arise, fool." Darkness surrounded the area. Marth opened his eyes. He was lying sprawled out in what looked like a shady office. It was dark enough not to show the man's face completely, but it was also light enough to show a wooden desk and a sleek cat lying a couple feet away from him._

Where am I? _Marth wondered. He'd never seen this place before. He slowly got up. All he had remembered was going to sleep. And this morning he'd been dragged here._

_He nervously felt for his Falchion… before discovering it wasn't there! Now he felt really bad. The only reason a swordsman can fight is because of his trusty sword. Right now, Marth felt like vomiting all over the carpet. He had the worst feeling at this place._

_A pokemon stood, looking at the young swordsman. It stood upright like a human, but you could easily see it was not. It, like every pokemon, wore no clothing, but was a bright yellow color. It held two spoons in each hand. Its eyes forever held the tense look, always predicting the future. A grayish-peach moustache came out of his abnormally long nose that looked like a snout. It whimpered, "Alakazam." _

_Marth sat criss-crossed at the floor. That would explain who dragged him here. Alakazam had probably teleported him here. He shivered. He did not like the looks of this place._

"_What do you want?" He asked. He felt ashamed at the whimper in his voice._

"_Stand up, you coward. Sit on my chair. There is nothing to be afraid of." A man's cold voice rang through the air, chilly and piercing. _

_Marth scrambled up and stumbled onto the chair. It was quite cold in the room, and being dressed in a night-suit didn't make things better. He was shivering and his feet felt like ice. He rubbed them against each other, trying to heat them up. He waited for the man to speak._

"_Good. I need a favor from you. What are you?" He asked rudely._

"_What do you mean?" Marth asked nervously. _

"_I mean where do you come from, what is your origin, and what is your destiny." The man's eyes blazed with hunger._

_Marth felt like something had wrenched out his guts. So this man knew who he was. Marth, age 16, exiled prince of Altea. Marth looked down._

"_I am the exiled Prince of Altea." Marth murmured at his knees. He deftly felt the man's mouth twitch, as if to smile._

"_The exiled? Who is to take your line next then?" He asked not caring that it was a rather touchy subject to Marth._

"_I am. But when my father dies, that is when I succeed the throne." He snapped, abandoning his nervousness. This man did not know a thing about him!_

"_Calm down! Sit." The man coldly addressed him. The Alakazam fixed his eyes on Marth and using his psychic powers, he made Marth sit._

"_Now… you obviously do care much about this kingdom of yours. Altream? _

"_Altea." Marth gritted his teeth._

"_Whatever. I have this favor to ask. And if you don't accept it, Altrea will be doomed, and the blame will go on you? Are you following me?"_

_It took longer than expected for Marth to register what he'd just said. He laughed, "That's impossible! You'd never be able to do it! Altea is capable of fighting for itself. You won't be able to defeat it so easily!"_

"_Don't I?" The man regarded in a dangerous soft voice. "You saw what my faithful pokemon, Alakazam did to you, did you not? If you did not know, I am a pokemon expert and the most powerful pokemon master in the world. There was once a time when I actually took hold of a powerful pokemon that was created by scientist. However, the pokemon was too smart, and abandoned me. It is quite frightened of me, I suppose. In fact, I think this very pokemon is at this godforsaken place. You obviously think that your people will kill my pokemon. Think again." His voice was light and amused._

_Marth rolled his eyes. "You only have one of that psychic pokemon though." He said, barely acknowledging the whole speech the man just said._

"_Ah but do I?" The man's face became lined, as he formed a feral smile. He ripped open a drawer and pulled out three balls. A strange jet of red light shot out and three other completely different pokemon appeared._

"_Meet Hypno, Gardevoir, and Skarmory."_

_The first pokemon was as bright yellow as Alakazam. But he was taller, and held a pendulum in front of him. It slowly swung in front of his face. His eyes held a sleepy look._

_The second pokemon was beautiful. It looked as it if it were wearing a dress of white and pale green. It floated just mere inches from the floor. Its eyes were a red color and intense, a little covered be a green knob coming out of its head _(A/N: Its sort of hard to describe a Gardevoir. Its one of my six pokemon in Ruby I used to beat the pokemon league for the first time. Anyway, I'm not doing much justice to Gardevoir's image. So if you really are curious about this particular pokemon try googling him up. It's a very graceful psychic pokemon ;))

_The last pokemon, Marth could notice, wasn't psychic. It was a bird made of steel. It stood as tall as Marth, its legs as big as an ostrich's. When it spread its wings, Marth could see a little red in there._

"_These pokemon alone are enough to kill half your kingdom." The man chuckled coldly. "They do whatever I tell them. And they are the strongest of their kind. At least, that's what I've seen. I haven't seen a stronger Gardevoir, Hypno, or Skarmory."_

_Marth closed his eyes and felt panic flooding everywhere. "What do I have to do to save my kingdom?"_

"_Kill the girl." The man said with finality. He slid a photo, facedown to Marth who caught it. Expecting to see a random girl, he was shocked to find a familiar blonde haired girl with bright green eyes._

"_No." Marth croaked. "I won't do it!" He shouted. "I won't kill Samus."_

"_Oh so you know this girl? Well, I'm sorry to hear that." The man said in a bored sort of voice. "Well, I'm afraid it's your whole kingdom or her."_

_Marth sat there. He didn't know what to say. On one hand, there was his future kingdom at stake. On the other, there was Samus. _

_To stall his time he asked, "Why do you want to kill her? Why not anybody else?"_

_The man chuckled quietly, "Marth, future king of Altea, do you know why I picked you out of all people to kill Samus Aran?"_

"_No." Marth admitted. A chill ran up his spine like he knew something bad was going to come out of his mouth next._

"_I know the woman you love is Samus. I also know that if it weren't for that meddling brat, you would have had the map piece. You gave her the map piece, do you not recall?" the man asked._

_Marth did not reply. Did this man know about his secret meetings on the balcony? "Yes."_

"_Well now, you must take it. You must also kill her in the process."_

"_Why can't I just take it? Why must I kill her!" He shouted._

_The man smiled a smile that was usually for ignorant, impatient children. "Because, now that Samus has been the possessor of the map piece for a long time, it won't let go of her. If you were to take it, it would magically disappear, when you don't keep your eye on it and return back to Samus. Unless the owner is killed or willingly gives it to you, you cannot keep it. Now maybe Samus might willingly give it back to you, but I should not prefer that. Think of the possibilities. Samus might blab to everybody that an anonymous somebody really needed it."_

_Marth stared at him in fury. Then he relaxed. All he had to do was make sure Samus never appeared in front of the man again. He could hide her. And he would never lose the person whom he loved most, and the thousands of people who didn't deserve to die._

"_I accept."_

"_Good." The man hissed. "Leave now."_

"_Alright, stupid man." Marth snarled. He walked out the door._

"_Oh and Marth, you do know I'll be watching. I've got spies all over this place, plus my psychic pokemon that can conjure an image of you anytime. And Samus." He added as an afterthought._

_Marth turned around. He saw Gardevoir conjure up a image. The image showed a peacefully sleeping girl with a mass of blonde hair clouding around her._

_Marth decided not to say anything. He didn't even have time to. Alakazam had teleported him out._

_-End Flashback-_

I wondered. Now that I thought of it, this mysterious person seemed to know a lot about me and my personal life. It seemed also scary that he actually knew I liked Samus. The only people who probably knew were Link, Roy, Samus (due to stupidity and lack of patience by me), and most likely Peach and Zelda (assuming Samus was a girl that told her friends her love life).

I also wondered when his kingdom would be destroyed. I often imagined a lot of pokemon terrorizing everyone. I had never felt so miserable and trapped. I never wanted to kill either side. And I ended up not doing either (I never really intended to kill Samus; the only reason why I refrained from saving her was because he still had doubts. And that's when I decided not to have a relationship with her, but not kill her. And then I conked her on the head, because I wasn't sure of what to do next. Sorrow had taken over me, and it had momentarily driven me crazy. I just couldn't take Samus's words anymore, so I sort of clonked her on the head and dropped her off by the hotel room.). But still, I would end up getting neither. His kingdom would be destroyed and Samus was mad at him, and probably would never speak to him again.

"Oh, sorry." I said, my thoughts came to an abrupt halt as I stepped on the sneaker of a girl. She turned around to face me. I gulped. It was Samus.

She gave me this blank stare. She looked through me, as though I was a ghost. _Did I deserve this just because of a little doubt?_ I averted my eyes and shifted to another spot. I just wanted to shrink away, but another side of me wanted to take her in the arms and tell her the truth and make her understand my dilemma. But I knew that she'd never believe me. She probably doesn't even know I'm an exiled prince, destined to rule.

I bumped into Luigi this time. "Where are we?" I asked.

"I think this is it." Young Link said skeptically.

We faced an abandoned house. It looked old and consisted of two stories. It looked like it was one of those Haunted Houses you saw in theme parks.

"Is this it?" I whispered to myself.

"What else do you think it is?" Peach responded. Her gaze was transfixed on the house.

"A house." Mario rolled his eyes.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Zelda muttered softly. A second later she had vanished and a girl in a ninja suit appeared and replaced the feminine look of the princess.

"Should we go in?" Fox asked cautiously.

"What else should we do? This is the only thing we have to cross to Master Hand's office. Besides, its just a stinkin' house." Falco coolly said. However, I thought I could detect a glimmer of fear in his beady eyes.

"Is it just a stinkin' house?" A mysterious voice asked. It was Mewtwo.

Every eye was fixed on him. "Think of it this way; why would they put a house in front of Master Hand's office? If it were as easy as just passing through it, why put it in there in the first place?" He calmly addressed the crowd.

People blinked at his logic. "It does make sense." Yoshi admitted.

"But what else choice do we have? If we need to cross to see Master Hand, we need to go through this house. It's the only way." Sheik hoarsely said.

"That is also true." Link thought aloud.

"We should just enter, but we should keep our." Pichu quipped. Everybody turned to stare at the little pokemon.

"You talk English?" Bowser growled, voicing for the rest of the crowd.

Pichu eyed him calmly. "Yes. Just like you do, we do too. But only in dire situations."

Everybody didn't say anything for a while.

"Well why do you think that?" Samus grunted at the tiny pokemon.

"Well, we have to go through this house right?" squeaked Pikachu.

"And this house is probably also dangerous." Jigglypuff added.

"So put it together." Finished Pichu. He stopped and paused to sniff Roy's jeans.

"I do think they have a point." Ganondorf said. Popo and Nana nodded their heads silently.

"You don't have a choice anyway." A voice sounded. Our heads shot up. Something leapt down.

It was _him_. He was dressed differently, but I could recognize those cold eyes anywhere. A sweat broke out. Now he definitely knew about Samus.

"You have reached the last part of your Test. Go through the house to win. And just to tell you, you don't really have a choice to go or not."

"Why is that?" Samus shot up. I winced. Why did she have to call attention to herself? She was frowning at his face. "I know you from somewhere…" I heard her murmur to herself.

"Just because." He answered.

"Who are you?" Captain Falcon shouted.

The man eyed him, "My name goes by Giovanni." He took out a pokeball and opened it. Alakazam flew out. It concentrated on all of us.

"Close your eyes!" I screamed. Everybody looked in confusion. It was too late. We were had all been teleported.

_**Peach's POV**_

"Ohhh… this is the last time my head will hurt like this!" I woke up. My brain felt like it was swelling and about to explode my skull.

I looked around. I saw Link. He looked unconscious. I surveyed my surroundings.

We were in a playroom that I was familiar with. I spent so many times here, although it wasn't my own. No, it was Medusia's.

_**Marth's POV**_

I felt lightheaded, as though I was floating. But a second later I opened my eyes. I stared around the area. Everything here was dead. Everybody that had been teleported was now dead on the floor, dead in any type of way. Strangled, poisoned, stabbed, drowned, burned. I could not look much longer. I looked up. The sky was a brown haze. The grass was a dead looking color, and the trees had not a single shade of green on it.

"I guess you found it out." Zelda's voice penetrated the air that also seemed to be dead.

"What?"

"Everybody's dead." She said, her voice cracking. I turned around. One tear. Then the other. In her hands was a dead Peach who had blood dripping out of her mouth. Samus's head was on Zelda's lap. It was hard to tell it was Samus because it seemed that she had aged. Wrinkles lined her face, and she no longer looked tough. Her hair was cut short to her neck and it was a shocking white. But I could tell because I could tell by how she frowned. A tear escaped my eye and rolled off my cheek. Samus didn't deserve to look old.

Link was lying in front of Zelda. He seemed the worse. His eyes had been gouged out, and his ears had been crudely cut off. His blue tunic looked like his red, so blood-stained his uniform was. Upon further inspection, I realized somebody had ripped his heart out.

I turned around to Roy's face. All of his legs were cut off and his arms had been burned and his hair was shaved off completely.

The scene was too horrible. I could not even find it in myself to comfort a now wailing Zelda. The tears kept coming.

I sat there, like an idiot, looking at the dead bodies. I closed my eyes shut. Why couldn't I be dead too?

**_Samus's POV_**

Anger and frustration gripped me as I felt myself falling into a black nothingness. I was whammed to the floor. Stars winking in my eyes, I could not tell what was red or blue.

The first thing I saw was Roy's pale, scared face. He apparently didn't know what to do. I looked at where we were. That was the problem. We seemed to be standing in a white room with nothing.

"Roy?" I asked.

"What?" He asked nervously.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know. Honestly." He stared hard at where the room ended. There appeared to be none.

"Welcome to the Eternity Room." A cold chuckle came from the doorway. "Where everything goes on forever." We both spun around.

Marth stood there. But there was something wrong about him that I couldn't name…

_**Young Link's POV**_

"Young Link?" I heard Nana's scared voice right next to my ear.

"Nana?" I whispered. My anger for her vanished. I was very scared, and very relieved to find somebody who I knew.

"Young Link? Nana?" I heard Popo yell. "Thank goodness, you're here!"

"Popo, you too?" I heard Adeleine ask nervously (A/N: For those who didn't bother to read the note, I mixed up Adrenaline's name. Her name is actually Adeleine. Whoops!)

"Adeleine?" Ness called out weakly.

"Who else is here?" Nana called out. Nobody replied.

"So it's only us then in this place." Ness said.

"But where is this place?" Adeleine asked, still more nervously.

"_What_ is this place?" Nana corrected.

We stared around us. We were in a place surrounded by beautiful fountains, and neatly trimmed hedges. A great palace was in front of us. And around us were… _fairies?_

They were dressed all in red button up coats. The sky was a vivid blue and all the fairies had a cute look to them. Like they were huggable. They flew around, their legs just a couple inches from the floor.

"I know this place!" Adeleine suddenly shouted.

"You do?" Popo asked.

Adeleine looked around here. She seemed to be looking for somebody.

"Where is here?" Nana asked more urgently.

"This is Fairy World." Adeleine muttered. "Me, Kirby and three of our friends had to save this place before from Dark Matter, which is this evil being that almost destroyed this area."

"Adeleine!" I heard a cheerful voice call out.

We turned around to a fairy. She had a crown on her head, so I concluded that she must be the queen, because she looked middle-aged. Two thick, black braids, hung on either side of her and she wore round-shaped glasses.

"Your Highness!" Adeleine called.

Ness was concentrating on her. He seemed to be probing her thoughts. Suddenly he winced and almost fell to the floor.

I caught him. "What happened?"

"There's something wrong here. That queen… I was reading her thoughts, when she blocked me out!" Ness angrily shook his head. "She's hiding something."

"Come to my palace!" The Queen said. She swept her hand and Nana, Popo and Adeleine followed.

Then, out of their eyesight she smiled at us. It wasn't kind. Her eyes seemed different. They turned yellow and they were staring in an insane kind of way. She smiled and we were shocked to see pointy teeth.

"Hey guys? You coming?" Adeleine called.

It vanished immediately. She looked normal again. "Shall we go?" She asked in a pleasant voice.

"S-sure." I wasn't ready to let Popo, Nana and Adeleine go in and get themselves killed. We followed her in nervously, wondering what horrors lay in there.

_**Fox's POV**_

I was flying. In my Arwing. I was in Corneria. And there were enemies everywhere. And I seemed to be shooting them down. I powered up, and locked on an enemy. I fired, bringing the enemy down.

"Fox, is that you?" Falco's screen shot up.

"Yeah."

"We seem to be under attack!" Falco said, as he barrel rolled and shot another enemy down.

"Well duh." Another screen popped up. It was Krystal.

"Krystal?" I asked.

"Who else?" She didn't have an Arwing though. She seemed to be flying in the Great Fox with Robbie (A/N: Robbie is a robot who does maintenance on your teammates ships if they get shot down. He drives the Great Fox and sometimes shoots down your enemies and drops useful items for you, the Great Fox is, as you know, the plane what you fight on in SSBM!)

"Oh. My. God." Falco said quietly.

"What?" I asked.

"Fox, we've done this before! I remember the same patterns. This is our very first mission together! But I can't seem to find Peppy and Slip." Falco said.

"They didn't come with us to the house, remember? That probably explains why Krystal's with us."

I couldn't register the fact we were in a memory. This seemed so real, yet unreal. I shot down three more enemies and upgraded my lasers to blue shots.

"This is so weird." Falco muttered as we faced the boss of Corneria.

"Tell me about it."

_**Mewtwo's POV**_

I was awake, but my eyes were not open.

"You should congratulate yourself, Professor Hawkins." A woman said. I opened my eyes.

I knew this place. It was when I was first created. But everything seemed wrong. I was supposed to be in a tube full of liquid. But instead I was tied down.

"Hello Mewtwo." A cold quiet voice rang out.

"Giovanni." I said. This was no memory. This was a recreation of what really happened. I tried to get myself out using my psychic powers, but I seemed not to have them.

I wondered how I'd gotten here.



End of Chapter 10. Ooh! The kids of Nintendo have found themselves in very sticky situations. But what'll happen next? Not even I know!

Thanks for the Reviews, including **Sage of Downtown Hyrule** (curious name) and **Cory Chung!**

And of course, my faithful reviewers who have been reviewing before my writing absence and put up for my weirdness.

I just want this to be over with soon, so I'm not putting a limit of reviews anymore (as you might have noticed I have 62 instead of 65 so I really don't care)


	12. The House of Insanity Pt 2

Hey guys! Me again, with another chapter… (Sneaking on my sister's laptop… she probably won't catch me since summer's out for her and she doesn't use word anymore… )

Thanks for all of the reviews! Let's see… 71! Not bad for 11 chapters! I'm very happy! Thank you, Babykoalaprincess, Superkawaiifreak (you came back to reviewing me! Thanks!) and Kat angel711… and of course the rest of my faithful reviewers… YOU GUYS ROCK! And seriously, if responding to reviews wasn't banned, I would respond to all of you guys… Maybe I could PM you… but that takes a lot of work and as you can tell, I'm very lazy… So anyway… my chapter guys, and I hope you like it!

_**Roy's POV**_

I blinked at Marth. What was going on? Why was Marth acting this way? My eyes nervously darted toward Samus who had the most curious expression on her face; like a cross between stone-cold and an intense gaze, like she was looking for something in Marth and trying to ignore him at the same time.

"I hope you enjoy your stay here." A slightly high-pitched voice echoed the surroundings. My heart beat slightly faster. I knew this voice…

"Peach?" My eyes flicked over to the blonde princess who was smoothing her bright pink dress. Her eyes held a playful, flirtatious expression; one I hadn't seen before.

"Fancy seeing you here in the Room of Eternity. I thought it would never change." Peach said, in the same playful tone. She laughed at her little joke before she walked over to me. She was quite close. Closer than I would've dared to walk to her, if I hadn't known she liked me. I could feel her breath, light and airy against my nervous heavy breathing.

"Peach…" I was happy to see her here, but I found it unsettling that she was acting a little too calm for a predicament like this. After all, it wasn't everyday that you suddenly popped into a place where there was nothing but air, and started flirting.

"Roy. I don't like the looks of this." I heard Samus suddenly growled next to me. Her eyes weren't on me, but they were on Marth, who was slowly advancing on her too, with a mean expression on his face.

A hand grabbed my arm and I was jerked toward Peach. She laughed playfully, sliding her arm around me. Her other hand was now fiddling with my hair. It felt quite nice, but I was becoming a little worried. This wasn't a time to romance. What was Peach doing? "Peach…" I started to say, but suddenly her lips were forced against mine; hers were hot and heavy and mine were awkward and inexperienced. Half of me wanted to go away. The other half was sliding into her seduces… I couldn't think. My head was light-headed, and the kiss sent sharp tingles down my spine. It felt… wonderful. But something didn't feel right here…

"ROY! THIS IS NO TIME FOR THIS!" At her voice, my head jerked back and looked at Samus. She was backing away from Marth, who had a strange look on his face. I pushed Peach away, who stumbled to the floor and lay there, looking quite blank.

In the meantime, Marth suddenly lunged at Samus, knocking her to the floor. Straddled on top of her, he withdrew his sword. He leaned in and whispered dangerously, "So Samus, what are you going to do now? Because of you, I'm going to lose everything… that was dear to me. You are in the way of everything." He reached out, and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Then he leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "You'll get what you deserve. And once you're out of the way…" He trailed off, whispering something else I could not hear. Samus's eyes widened at this while he raised his sword preparing to behead her.

I couldn't let it happen. I ran and withdrew my own sword before realizing I had none. _Where was my sword? _I spun my head around and saw Peach laughing and holding it. The flat of the blade was pressed against her cheek and her eyes were closed. _What is going on here?_ I asked myself.

There was no time to retrieve it. I called out, "MARTH!" Marth was startled and dropped his own sword. Samus seized it and with a strangled cry she stabbed him in the gut. Marth's expression froze. Slowly, he toppled over her. She roughly pushed him aside and we watched him, his eyes wide open, blank. A pool of blood was quickly surrounding him. I couldn't believe what Samus just did. She didn't look regretful; on the contrary, she spat on the dead body.

"What's up with you!" I asked, noting her disgusted look.

"If you didn't notice, he tried to kill me." She coldly replied.

"He was my _friend_. I've known him for a very long time!" I was so shocked that I could not feel sorrow.

"Self-defense." Samus replied.

"He could've been brainwashed!" I wildly made up. After all, anything was possible in a place like this… wherever that was…

Samus fixed me with a gaze, "In case if you don't know, he never cared about me. He almost let me die, when Medusia was about to kill me! I don't think he's brainwashed." Samus crossed her arms and tilted her chin up in a defiant way.

"Just because he doesn't love you doesn't mean you can kill him!" I shouted at her.

Samus wasn't looking toward me. She had a strange look on her face, and her emerald green eyes were glittering. "It doesn't matter anyway." She wiped the sweat right between her nose and lip with her arm. She was staring at the spot where Marth was lying.

"What do you mean, it doesn't matter!" I shouted. "You _killed_ somebody. If you don't think that's bad, than I don't know what is!" I was on a nervous breakdown. Was this really the Samus I thought I knew?

She faced me. I was surprised to see a bitter half smirk. "He's not really dead." She whispered to me. "You forget where we are at."

"Where?" I asked, "A room of blank whiteness that goes on forever won't bring him back."

Samus chuckled, "Marth isn't dead." She said the statement as if she believed in it. She crossed her arms, "You forget that we are in the Room of Eternity. That means that he'll be alive… but he will be in pain." Her smirk grew to a grim line, "Anyway, that isn't him." She turned away from me, her arms still crossed. "And if I'm not mistaken, Peach isn't either. They aren't the real Peach and Marth."

"How do you know?" I asked wondering how Samus knew so much.

Samus sighed, facing me again. "Roy, what is Prince Marth destined to be ruler of?"

I frowned, "Well actually, he's exiled so-"

"Well, what was he _supposed_ to be ruler of!" She spat. She was growing impatient at my confusion.

"Altea." Came my stammering answer.

"Exactly!" Samus said. Her eyes were bright, "Altea! Before Marth was about to stab me he whispered something in my ear. He said something like 'once you're out of the way, I'll be able to have my kingdom Altrea back'! He said _Altrea_, not Altea!"

I stared at her. "He could've had spit in his mouth or something-"

But Samus shook her head, "No, the way he said it was clear."

There was a groan behind us. Samus turned around. She uttered a sharp cry. "Samus!" I turned around and faced her sharply. She was doubled on the floor; a mask of pain was etched on her face. She clutched her stomach and blood seemed to be spurting out from there. My sword wedged between there. She pulled it out and threw it right next to her, grimacing in pain.

"Samus!" I immediately knelt to the floor. She was gasping in pain, "…Peach..." She broke off, gasping.

But in the meanwhile, something strange was happening to Samus. At every drop of blood she shed, every gasp she uttered, every time she shuddered, she seemed to fade a little. At first I didn't notice it. But I noticed that her feet were fading away. And then it slowly spread up her legs, hips, stomach, chest, and arms. Her head was only left. It was hanging immobile in the air. "Peach… sword…" Finally she disappeared all together. "Samus?" I felt even more scared. It was something when you had a friend by your side that was actually acting according to situation. But once that friend is gone, you have to fend off for yourself, and it takes more courage for that.

I turned around, looking for Peach. She was standing, her arms crossed, looking at me angrily. She was in a fighting stance. "Pick up your weapon." She growled. I knew I was in big trouble. I picked it up. I didn't want to fight Peach so I ran.

_**Peach's POV**_

"Ugh… my head." I heard Link say behind me. He stood up unsteadily, his feet wobbling dangerously underneath him. I ran to help him up. "Where are we?" He asked, looking at Medusia's playroom.

He had just come around, and I hadn't told him about this playroom yet. There had to be a reason we were sent here. "Link… we're in Medusia's playroom."

"What?" He asked. He let go of my arm that he'd been using for support. He was steady this time. He turned around and stared at the luxurious, gigantic playroom and whistled. "I wish I had a playroom. I never had one. It must be fun having a room like this." Apparently, Link didn't know how big exactly a playroom had to be.

"They usually aren't this big. They're actually smaller. And they're less expensive than this." I thought about my own playroom I used to have. Although, I was a princess, Medusia's playroom was even bigger than mine. It was roughly as big as a basketball stadium.

I heard Link hiss quite unexpectedly. "What is it?" I asked quickly.

"No door." He grunted.

I frowned. Did this mean that this wasn't her actual playroom? Was it an illusion? "This might not be her actual playroom. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We have to find the others." I said aloud.

"Roy?" He suggested slyly.

I blushed only slightly. He probably didn't even like me anyway. I told this to Link. He chuckled, "You still think he doesn't like you even after we saved your necks from Medusia last night?"

"What? What do you mean, 'last night'? I never met anybody last night!" I exclaimed. Was Link going delusional? I frowned, wondering if he was playing a trick on me. It was a mean one, if he was.

Now it was Link's turn to frown. "Peach, I know sometimes you forget things quickly, but you _can't _have forgotten what happened last night that quickly."

I ignored the jibe about my memory, "Nothing happened last night!" But then I remembered what happened what we found when we woke up. Hadn't we all woken up, dirty, sore, and disheveled? Hadn't we woken up with rips and tears on our clothes? I frowned. Did something really happen when we were sleeping. Was Link's story right? Then how come I didn't remember? Surely if it had to do with Medusia, I would have remembered it. So how come last night was a blur in my head? "What happened?" I asked slowly.

Link let out a frustrated sigh. He opened his mouth to tell what happened when there was a creaking noise. I turned around, looking for the noise. There was a treasure chest in a corner. And there was a unicorn plushie opening the lid.

Wordlessly, we watched it. I was fascinated by it, more than scared. Link on the other hand looked perplexed. The unicorn plushie was made of a shiny material that shined in different colors at different angles. The wings were made of silvery cloth and the horn, tail, and mane were made of gold cloth. The plushie clumsily dropped to the floor, its hind legs in the air. For awhile it sat there, its beady eyes seeming to look past us and then suddenly it straightened. And it grew…

And grew…

And grew…

And grew some more…

Until it was the actual size of a unicorn. In fact, it had turned real. It was preening its wings and gazing at us with its same blank expression that looked oddly cold though it was looking directly at us now. It stamped its now gold hooves against the floor impatiently.

"It's so beautiful." I breathed. I took a step closer to it, but Link threw out an arm catching me heavily in the chest. I gave him a questioning but irritable look.

"It could be dangerous." He growled.

"Dangerous!" I laughed, "Unicorns are a sign of purity, hope, and goodness. There's no way it could hurt us!" But I was wrong.

It lowered its horn and charged. I yelled and I ran, Link ahead of me. The unicorn was really fast though. Link suddenly turned around, and withdrew his sword. He stabbed the horse in the chest. It made loud clanging noise and I noticed that Link's hands were vibrating from the blow. He dropped the sword in shock and exclaimed, "It's metal!" We swore at the same time. The unicorn reared on its hind legs. Link caught its horn and suddenly he was pulled along for the ride.

Up… down… up…. Down. The horse kept bucking and Link was holding on for dear life. I could tell he couldn't keep it up for long. He suddenly flipped over and he was riding the horse, bareback, sliding up and down, his head bouncing violently. "Peach, HELP!" He roared.

I was shaking. I didn't know what to do. The sword wasn't much help. Suddenly I had an idea. I sprinted to a corner. The unicorn, as I hoped it would, followed with so much speed that it looked like a blur. Then, I jumped as high as I could and the unicorn, who couldn't brake in time, slammed his horn into the wall and couldn't get its horn out. It began to buck violently but then it gave up. It stood stiffly against the wall. And then, it shrunk…. Smaller

And smaller…

And smaller…

And smaller still…

Until it was a plushie again. I breathed a sigh of relief, and turned around to face Link. There was a problem though. I gasped. I backed away slowly. The unicorn had become a plushie, true. But so had Link. He was now a doll.

I picked him up, brushed some of the blonde hair aside and whispered, "Link?" the doll-Link didn't reply. It stared back at me with dull blue eyes, no longer friendly, no longer caring, no longer scared. They were blank, and they seemed to look past me. I couldn't believe it.

Somebody sniggered behind me. I turned around. "Medusia!" I was angry now. "What did you do with Link and everybody else?"

"Poor Peach. You were always the idiot of the lot." She rolled her eyes at me. She snapped her fingers and Doll-Link sailed to her. She caught it and grinned at the doll. "In case if you didn't know, Link is no longer with you anymore. He's gone… and he won't come back. You can't save him any longer. He's now lifeless."

"Liar!" I shouted. I didn't want to believe it. "You're just making me scared!"

"And it's working." Medusia laughed cruelly. She was right. I was getting more scared by the second. "After what happened last night, I was furious to find out that you and Link were together. What if he told you everything that happened?"

"What happened last night that's so terrible you can't tell me?" I asked sharply.

Medusia's grin widened. "Of course you wouldn't know. I did, after all give you a potion to forget that particular time period. You must know that I'm very good at alchemy, chemistry, and am an expert sorceress."

I knew all that of course. When Medusia and I were still best friends, she would tutor me in chemistry because I was horrible at it, while she was the top student. She was also president of the ESA (Expert Sorcerers Association) Club, which was very hard to get into because you needed to take a test before you got accepted into the program. "I know, you don't need to brag all the time." I spat.

"One of these days, and you're temper will get you." She said, clicking her tongue. "If you really want to know what happened…" She took out something from the purse that she was holding and threw it on the floor. It was a vial with green liquid in it. She laughed, "It will help you remember." She snapped her fingers twice and then she was gone. I stared at the bottle. Knowing Medusia, it was probably poison. However, I picked it up anyway and stuck it in my dress pocket. I turned around. To my complete surprise, there was a door! I wondered how it had gotten there. This place was really weird but I ran over to it, relieved to get out of this childish place. I closed my eyes, opened the door, and dashed out.

Scarcely two seconds later, I crashed into somebody, who lost their balance and fell on me. I groaned, as I felt the person's weight against me. I could tell it was a man, but other than that… "Peach, don't make me hurt you." The person sharply said.

I gasped. "Roy?" Thank goodness, I had somebody here with me! I opened my eyes. I was staring into a white space of nothing. Roy was on top of me and he got off of me. He raised his sword that was bloodstained and pointed it at me. I gulped. My relieved feeling vanished. What was going on?

"Roy, what are you doing! It's me, Peach!" I shouted at him angrily.

"I can see that!" He retorted, "Why else do you think I'm pointing this at you? If you take one step closer, I'll…"

"Why are you trying to kill me?" I asked. My mouth was really dry now. It didn't make any sense, Roy trying to kill me. Something must've happened.

"You started it!" He shouted.

"I started what! I just came here!" I answered.

"Stop trying to play tricks with me." He warned. But his weapon was lowering.

"Roy, it's me Peach! Ask me anything, that I know about you!" I was pleading now.

Roy was quiet for a minute. "What do I fear most?" He asked. His sword was raised again.

I thought. What _did_ Roy fear the most? I couldn't remember. I opened my mouth to tell him to ask me something I actually knew about him. I had only started talking to him, ever since this whole "Test" thing had started. But then I remembered. "Elevators!" I blurted.

Roy's eyes widened. "So it _really_ is you." He dropped his sword, shook his head and muttered, "This place is driving me nuts."

"What's going on?" I asked.

Then he told me what happened in "The Room of Eternity". I listened, and blushed when he told me what Clone-Peach had done to him. To think, if Roy had actually thought my clone-self was actually me! But I didn't comment, and right after that I told him what had gone on in Medusia's playroom.

"Both Link and Samus are gone then…" He frowned. "I can't see a connection to why they'd be gone…"

"Me either." I frowned also. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know… But we have to be really careful here. This place is playing tricks on people's minds… Peach." He said, suddenly facing me, looking me straight in the eye. He grasped my shoulders, though not unkindly. Even though we weren't so close, it took a lot of force to look back into them… those sapphire eyes. _Quit being a romantic!_ I scolded myself, though I had to admit what he was doing was quite random.

"What?" I asked softly.

"Promise me you'll be okay…" Roy said.

"What?" I asked again. Like I couldn't take care of myself! But that seemed to snap him out of his, caring reverie.

"Take care of yourself, because I'm not going to be doing any unnecessary saving here." He threw back his head and laughed, and let go of me a little harshly.

"Well, thanks." I muttered. Color was returning back to my cheeks a little too brightly. I hated when he did this to me! This was the second time already and I felt like killing him now for letting me down. My heart, which was pumping blood at a hundred miles per hour, was now returning to its original rate.

He faced me and grinned. I couldn't help grinning back though. The feeling of euphoria that came from his smile faded after awhile. There was nothing to do in this place. It was never going to change. Unless…

I gasped suddenly. Something cold brushed against my cheek. "What's up?" Roy said, suddenly facing me. It couldn't be…

But it _was_.

"Snow…." I quietly said, more to myself than him. I faced the sky, looking at the once empty white sky. It was now full of snowflakes that whirled around gently. One landed on Roy's nose. I laughed.

"What?" He asked. Completely, unaware of what I was doing, I brushed the snowflake off his nose, feeling the warmth of his skin against my cold fingers. It was amazing how he could stay warm in the snow. He flinched, but did not back away. He was looking at me now, looking quite unsure of what to do but he looked a little pleased. Or was it just me? I quickly turned away.

"We have to get out of this place." I said. Wind was picking up now. It was bitter cold, and my dress was short sleeved. I shivered, and flung my arms around me, in an attempt to stay warmer.

"I know." Roy said. The cold wasn't affecting him yet. It was probably because he loved fire, and he had enough of it to ward off the cold. He gave me a sympathetic look but didn't offer any sign to help me. The last thing I needed was sympathy if he wasn't going to help me.

"I'm not cold." I said, noting his look and trying very hard not to shiver.

"Mmm…" He said, giving me an amused look. Amused! Nothing was amusing here! "I think I'll be the judge of that." He unclasped his cape and wrapped it around me, his arms practically hugging me. His fingers brushed against my neck and goosebumps traveled up my arms that had nothing to do with the cold when he lifted my hair out of the cape. Warmth spread from my heart to my face, my fingertips and my toes.

"Thanks." I said awkwardly, feeling stupid that I couldn't think of anything else.

Roy seemed embarrassed of his actions and muttered, "I don't want any blonde hair on my cape."

But I smiled. I could see past Roy now. I could see past his insults, glares, and hot-headedness that he was really a nice guy.

"What is that?" He said, pointing to a bulge in my pocket. It was the potion Medusia gave me. I still didn't know if it was poison or not. I told him about it. "You don't remember what happened last night?" He asked incredulously. A deep blush was covering his face. I wondered why. _He_ obviously knew what went on.

I shook my head to indicate that I didn't remember. "So d'you think its poison, or what?" I asked shaking the bottle under his nose.

Roy took a look at the green liquid, "Knowing Medusia…" He started darkly. "I suggest you don't keep that with you.

"So can you tell me what went on last night?" I asked. I was eager to know why Medusia seemed happy I didn't know, and why Roy had become uncomfortable at it.

Roy shook his head. "I'm not sure if I'm the one who's supposed to tell you." He murmured.

Suddenly something very much like a short human fell from the sky and landed in the snow. He brushed himself off, looking very scared. "Mario?" I asked.

"Dr. Mario." He corrected, indicating the doctor attire he was wearing. "Where… are they?" He gasped. Apparently he had been running.

"Who?" I asked wide-eyed.

"Mario… Yoshi… Luigi… DK… W-where are they?" he panted.

"How should we know?" Roy asked.

Dr. Mario sunk to the ground. "What's wrong?" I asked. I knelt down to Dr. Mario and helped him up.

He looked at me gratefully. "We were in a jungle," He started. Dr. Mario explained that they were already running when they appeared in the jungle. They didn't know what they were running from but it was really bad. The ground had shook each time the monster took a step. They heard laughter coming from this beast too. That made them run even faster. They came across a labyrinth **(A/N: A labyrinth for those of you who don't know, is a maze… only its much more complicated than a normal one and there are traps everywhere… if you've read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the last task Harry has to do is a perfect example of a labyrinth) **and they stuck together. But Yoshi, DK, Luigi and Mario ran ahead of Dr. Mario and left him behind. Dr. Mario came across a pathway that branched off into three places and he didn't know which side they took. He called out for them, but they did not respond. Finally he took the left fork… and fell through a hole and landed here. "And now I don't know where they are!" He cried out in desperation.

My throat seemed to stick. What happened to Mario? My best friend… where was he? What happened to him?

Roy was examining his sword (He had cleaned it in the snow, while Dr. Mario was telling the story) suddenly he sharply inhaled, as though he realized something.

"What is it?" I asked dejectedly, still thinking about Mario.

"Doc… who were these people again that disappeared?" He asked, ignoring me.

"Um, Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, and DK." He replied, puzzled at what was going on.

Suddenly I knew too. Roy and I locked eyes, and I understood what was going on. "No way…" I breathed.

"WHAT!" Dr. Mario exclaimed.

"Doctor, DK was holding the map last, wasn't he?" I asked frantically.

"Um… I don't believe so. I think Kirby is currently in possession of it." He said, thinking over it.

I sighed. That meant it was still safe.

"What's going on? Why were they taken away?" Dr. Mario asked, still puzzled.

Roy sighed, "It all fits… Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, DK, Samus, Link… All of them could touch the map without burning themselves… They were the ones that possessed the pieces. And all of them have disappeared. They've been taken away for some reason…" His voice trailed off, looking at the snow.

"And that means that… Kirby, Ness, Fox, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff and Pikachu… they must already be gone, or they are going to be." I finished.

"We can't let that happen!" Dr. Mario exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"In case if you haven't noticed, Doc, we're stuck in this Winter Wonderland." Roy mumbled. The cold was making me feel very sleepy. I tried to stay conscious but before I knew it, my eyes had closed, and I was hunched over, not completely relaxed, but more comfortable than when I wasn't sleeping.

_**Zelda's POV**_

If it was a World of the Dead why were we still alive? I glanced over to Marth who was still looking at Samus, his eyes filled with regret. "Was there something I missed?" He asked himself, shaking.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't understand… why are they dead?" He asked. My brain wasn't functioning right. Regret coursed through my body like poison. I glanced at the brown hazy sky. Everything here fit the mood. I glanced at Link's body. A wave of nausea hit me, and I doubled over, spewing out whatever I'd eaten for breakfast.

"You okay?" Marth asked beside my shoulder.

"I-I think…" I replied, taking a shuddering breath. Now that I'd vomited, I'd stopped feeling queasy and I stared at everything around me with lucidity. I let out a slow hiss. "This doesn't feel right."

"Nothing here is right." Marth said. He touched Samus's face and suddenly withdrew back, letting out a yelp.

"What is it?" I asked. The flesh that he'd ran his arm over disintegrated leaving a glimpse of bone.

"There's something about this place…" I said. Magic was giving me a warning here. Things didn't look as they appeared.

Marth was staring at Samus's face again, sadly. "This is all my fault." He moaned.

"What is?" I asked.

"I'll bet this would've never happened if I'd protected Sammy in the first place. Now its all my fault." He said in his mournful voice.

"Protected her? What are you talking about!" I exclaimed.

"Last night… d'you remember?" He asked, his dark eyes swiveling on mine.

I shook my head no.

"How could you not!" He sighed, "It doesn't matter anyway, it's not like we're going here anyway, so I might as well just tell you."

At the first words he spoke about last night, I remembered. The memories flashed into my head, one by one. I remembered everything. I lowered my eyes. Link saved me. That had to be accounted for something… I felt utterly stupid for rejecting him in the first place. So he really had cared for me after all. Whatever Saria was doing… it was all a trick.

"We have to get out of here." I declared.

"How?" Marth asked.

"I don't know but I'm not going to stand here." I said, surprising myself of being bold all of a sudden. I stood up and immediately felt myself getting sucked up through something. I let out a scream.

"Zelda!" Marth yelled. He grasped me by the hand and was pulled into whatever I was getting sucked into.

Seconds later we slammed into a forest. Sunlight peeped through the trees and fluttering orbs of light flitted around. I lifted my head and looked in the direction of which I was facing. I saw Peach, Roy and Dr. Mario. They were lying down. Or were they just lying down? A sudden chill gripped me. What if they were dead too?

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END OF CHAPTER… what was it again? Oh yeah…. 12! I know I said it was going to be long… but I decided to leave the rest of it to the next chapter, because I'm going to be talking about whatever happens to the rest of the team. Review please… I hate ghost readers… and please tell me if I did anything wrong in this chapter… XD


	13. The House of Insanity Pt 3

Chapter 13 (woohoo! the unlucky number!)

Well thanks to everybody who reviewed… Once again… I love you guys too much.

Anyway, this story is coming to a close (I'm judging about 3 chapters to go… maybe 5 if I can stretch it… counting this one of course) and I have some announcements to make

When Halloween comes around again, I shall be updating "In Honor of Halloween" … I admit, chapters 1 and 2 were a piece of crap… but 3 and 4 are going to be a hell lot scarier… so if you scoffed at my "attempt" at horror, I'm giving a warning that 3 and 4 are going to have deaths in them, and they WILL be scarier.

After this, I'm going to start on new stories… The one I'm definitely going to be starting next is going to be a Nana/Y.Link one… I'm not really sure what the title is going to be yet… But I already have the plot… One thing's for sure… It's not going to be as serious as this one XP… I also have some other ideas, but I'm going to wait to see if I can actually stick with these ideas, because I usually tend to go "bleh" in the middle of them… and I just don't feel like finishing it.

Well, here's chapter 13, hope you enjoy! By the way… It's raining right now… so if this chapter seems a little gloomy… let's just say my mood goes with the weather… XD

-&&&-&&&-

_**Popo's POV**_

Her footsteps echoed the hallway as we followed; Me, Nana, and Adelaide up in the front and Young Link and Ness in the, looking extremely nervous in the back.

"Excuse me, my Queen, but where exactly are we going?" Adeleine asked in an unusually polite tone.

The Queen turned around and smiled, her thick braids whipping everywhere as she turned. "You'll see." She smiled. Her eyes seemed to look past us for only a minute before she returned Adeleine's gaze.

We passed gardens that were filled with unusual, but pretty trees and plants. The Queen caught me looking at the plants in awe and she smiled softly. She walked up to a silver leafed tree and plucked a maroon colored fruit that looked like a pear. She handed it to me and said, "Eat it. It is very rare and delicious here."

I took the fruit, which was fuzzy like a peach's and bit into it. It _was_ tasty. It tasted tangy and sweet, nothing like I ever tasted before. It also held an addictive fragrance. The juice dripped down me, and there were no seeds, rind or anything. Puzzled I asked, "How does it grow, if it doesn't have any seeds?"

She responded, without looking back, "You plant the fruit itself."

It went against whatever I was taught at school, but this _was_ after all, a different planet. We passed fountains that were not only made of marble, but crystal, gold, silver, ruby, emerald, or any precious material you could think of. Not only water shot out of the fountains, but other liquids that I could not identify. I could've sworn one silver fountain was gushing out chocolate. Sometimes, fairies dashed around everywhere, but when I looked closer, the fairies seemed to turn into a piece of gnarled wood, or something other.

At last we reached the doorway, and The Queen pushed open the grand, red and gold doors. It opened with a majestic creak and we entered.

The floor gleamed and sparkled. The Queen sat on her throne comfortably, while we stood. The door shut behind me and suddenly I became nervous.

"So, you are here." She simply stated. She seemed to be looking at Ness more than anybody else.

"Er… yes, Your Highness. Although I do not know ho-" Adeleine started.

"Did I say you could talk?" The Queen shot her a painful smile. Adeleine quickly was quiet. "Now… I don't know how you five got here but you certainly are not welcome here."

Beneath my mittens, my hands grew cold. My eyes nervously darted about. Adeleine's gaze, which was on the floor as a mark of respect, shot up quickly. "I beg your pardon?" She asked.

"I said. You. Are. Not. Welcome. Here. Should I repeat that in a different language? Chinese? Latin?" She asked. It was strange and scary how she was still calm.

Adeleine dropped her respectful and adult-like speech and yelled, "That's it, where is Kirby?"

The Queen smirked, revealing pointy teeth all of a sudden. We flinched at the sight. "Aren't you smart? Unfortunately, you aren't smart enough to know that I wouldn't answer that question!" She snapped.

Adeleine stared at her furiously. Simultaneously, Nana, Young Link and I reached for our weapons in case if there was any trouble. Ness seemed to be in pain. He gasped and threw himself on all fours.

"Ness!" Adeleine screamed. "What's wrong!" She ran to the PSI boy.

"I infected his powers. Unfortunately, people who have psychic abilities can be harmed through the very same way, they harm people." Her smile tightened.

Adeleine stared at the brunette royalness again. All of a sudden she whipped out something from her pocket. For one wild moment, I thought it was a wand, or a dagger. But it was a paintbrush. Nana, Young Link, and I all stared at her.

She dashed to the nearest clump of trees and plucked several colors; shades of pink, black, blue, and red. "If you don't tell me where Kirby is…" She left the threat open.

The Queen stared at her. "You wouldn't dare." She hissed.

"Oh yes I would." Adeleine responded evenly. "So I take that as a no?"

And without waiting for a response she broke open the fruit and the juice dripped down. Then she dipped her brush in the black fruit and began to draw an out line of a circle, eyes, mouth, cheeks, two clumps of shoes and arms. Then she dipped her paintbrush in a crystal fountain and dried it. She began to paint the insides pink. Surely she wasn't painting… Kirby?

But she was. Tremblingly but surely, she kept drawing. Finally all that was left was Kirby's blue eyes.

"Don't you dare!" The Queen leaped from her throne. "If you do, I will kill you!"

But Adeleine just kept drawing. She added the final touch of blue to his eyes. We didn't know how this was supposed to affect our real situation, but we kept watching. "Wait!" Adeleine shouted. There was a parchment-colored fountain nearby and she dipped her paintbrush in. Then she began to draw something in Kirby's hand. It was the map! It certainly looked like it.

Suddenly the painting glowed a fervent blue. And Kirby popped out, holding a map, looking utterly confused.

"Kirby, you need to save her! She's possessed by Dark Matter!" Adeleine yelled.

**(A/N: Dark Matter is in Kirby Crystal Shards 64… that's the stuff Kirby has to defeat… basically its just this black stuff with one eye in the front that possesses people)**

Kirby dazedly looked at the Queen, "I destroyed the Dark Matter though…" He muttered.

"But she's possessed. I can feel it!" Adeleine shouted.

Kirby sighed. "Okay." He gave the map to Ness, who had stopped writhing on the floor.

"Guards!" The Queen shrieked. Instantly, two fairies came in the room, with spears that had pointed crystals at the end of them, came in. "Kill her." Her eyes rooted Adeleine on the spot. She stuck the paintbrush in her pocket

The guards immediately pointed their spears at Adeleine, and a strange beam of light shot from their spear to Adelaide. She gasped in pain, and fell to the ground. The guards stiffly waited for the Queen's next command.

"Adeleine!" Ness shouted, as we all ran toward her.

"Hello Ness," She smiled at him for the first time. It was full of pain.

"Adeleine? What can we do?" He asked.

"There is… nothing you can do. Usually it only takes one shot of their spears… to kill somebody." She said, gently.

"Well… there has to be something…" Ness said.

"There is nothing. It was my decision… Ness…?" She suddenly asked.

"What?" He answered.

"I know I seemed kinda distant with you before… I thought you were a snob before, because you were always so polite… but I can see that you are really a nice person. I really like you…" She smiled. Her eyes were sliding in and out of focus, as she struggled to stay conscious to hear what he said.

Ness's eyes brimmed with tears, but none fell. "Adeleine… I… I've liked you since we've met." His cheeks flushed slightly, but he kept his eye contact with her.

Adeleine smiled, "Really? You are the… first person…" But she never the time to finish; her eyes really slid out of focus this time. This time she really was gone. And there was nothing we could do about it.

&&&&&&

_**Mewtwo's POV**_

"Well?" I asked in my typical quiet voice.

"What?" Giovanni asked; his voice was hard and cold, but amused.

"You clearly are not going to let me out of here." I said.

"You have assumed correctly." Giovanni sneered. The scientists that were milling about were suddenly gone now.

"Why have you done this?" I demanded.

"I have a proposal for you." Giovanni said.

"What is it?" I asked, annoyed. I would never work for Giovanni. It was because of him, I almost became evil. And he thought he could control me. But he was strong.

"I am going to take over a kingdom." He started.

"And…?" I calmly pressed.

"Let me finish!" He snapped, "This kingdom is called Alt… Altr… Damn it, what was that name again?"

"Altea?" I quietly responded. I knew all about Altea. When Giovanni started to say it, I already could tell what he wanted. But I kept quiet, and decided to play dumb.

"Yes, whatever." He forced his mouth into a smile, "I need you to join forces with my team of Pokemon destroy it."

"And if I don't?" I asked.

"You will stay here, powerless." Giovanni sneered. "Unless you consider my offer."

I didn't know what to do. What was there to say? On one hand, I would be destroying Marth's kingdom in exchange for my powers. On the other, I could act noble, but sacrifice my powers. I needed my power, but I knew it would not be wise to destroy a kingdom. Hundreds would die at my hand.

_**Pichu's POV**_

Alone. So alone. And afraid of what would happen. Pikachu… Jigglypuff… they were gone. And I was alone. In this godforsaken place. It was really dark too. And one of the things I feared a lot was the dark.

I was in a place surrounded by wires and metal. The floor was metal, the ceiling was metal, the walls were metal, and wires hung from the ceiling like vines. I wish Pikachu were with me right now. I shivered and waddled forward. I was alone and I didn't want to stay here any longer.

That's when I heard the voices.

"Well… speak up." I heard a cold voice say.

"What is there to say?" I heard a quiet voice say back. I recognized his voice immediately. It was Mewtwo. I hopped up to the door, joyful to have found somebody I knew.

"Well, are you going to accept my offer or not?" the cold voice sneered.

There was a very pregnant pause.

"I'll be waiting for your answer. For now, I have other matters to attend." The cold voice said.

The door, that I hid beside, opened suddenly and a dark shadow strode out. It was tall, but I couldn't see anything else because it was so dark. I quietly slipped in as he went out. He didn't see me. I saw Mewtwo, wrapped up in a hunk of metal. He appeared to be really weak, and he spotted me.

"If it isn't Pichu…" He said quietly.

I squeaked as a reply.

"Well, can you do it or not?"

"What?" I asked, suddenly aware that my voice was tiny.

"Untie these things!" Mewtwo said, with a hint of impatience in his voice.

I was surprised at his tone of voice. Mewtwo _always_ spoke in a calm, quiet, mysterious voice.

Mewtwo must've realized how he spoke because all of a sudden he said in his usual tone, "I don't know what's wrong with me. All of a sudden… I feel as if I can… _feel_. It is harder to suppress my emotions. I feel hatred for Giovanni, impatience in you, and curiosity as to why Giovanni wants to take over Altea… I feel as if my mind and heart are in chaos. I think now that my powers are gone, so is my ability to have a calmed mind."

It was difficult to understand what he was talking about. I wished Pikachu were here to explain why. But Pikachu was gone. I even wished Jigglypuff were here, even though Jigglypuff usually was annoyed at me.

I scrambled up to the mysterious Pokemon and began to nibble at the wires that tied him up. Occasionally, it sparked but I really didn't mind, since I was an electric Pokemon. Finally, the wires were free Mewtwo floated to the ground.

Wait… _floated?_

"I thought your powers were gone."

"Those things that held me down, took my power away." Mewtwo corrected. He was calm again.

"Now what?" I spoke the question that was probably on both of our minds.

Mewtwo wasn't paying attention. He was looking at the dark hallway, from which I came from.

"Um… Mewtwo?" I asked timidly, to get his attention.

"Look." He whispered. I looked. And my jaw dropped.

The wires that had been hanging from the ceiling were now flowering vines. The cold atmosphere was now nice and warm. Stranger yet, grass was growing at this very moment, toward us. Trees and plants sprouted on the ground, and insects of every type were crawling. Animals peeked shyly from the trees. The metal ceiling and walls disappeared. The sky was a brilliant blue.

"What's going on!" I asked shrewdly.

"I do not know." Was Mewtwo's reply. I could sense curiosity coming from him, though he didn't show it.

"Well…? Are we going in or what?" He asked.

I stared at the forest. I certainly liked it better than where we were standing. And somehow, it felt like it was drawing me in. It felt nice, unlike all my past experiences. "Definitely." I said. I scampered down the soft grass, and Mewtwo floated after me.

_**Mr. Game & Watch's POV**_

After what seemed like forever, my feet slammed down onto hard earth. Strangely, I felt very heavy. I was always light as a 2-D, but this was ridiculous. I wasn't accustomed to my weight. It was weird.

That's when I realized something with a chill.

I wasn't 2-D anymore.

I could wiggle my fingers in any direction. I could face somebody and they wouldn't see a black line. I was really bemused at this predicament. I was scared. How could I be a 3-D?

Worse still, as I surveyed my surroundings, I realized that I wasn't in a 3-D world. I was in a place that was 2-D.

Which meant that the "hard earth" I landed on was now just a line.

"Mr. Game & Watch! Is that you!" Came a voice.

"Falcon?" Relieved I looked at the hotshot racer. But he wasn't 3-D anymore. He was 2-D! And behind him was the girl that stole Samus's map piece. The green haired girl, Saria.

"Saria! Is that you?" I asked astonished.

"Yes, it's me." She said. She seemed different from the mean person I knew. Saria was quiet, and she held herself in a more reserved manner.

There was no time to comment.

"This is so weird…" Captain Falcon muttered. "I feel like I'm a piece of paper."

"Well, I feel obese." I snapped back. I _hated_ when people commented on my weight.

"Dude, there was no offense meant." He said, looking surprised.

"What do we do?" Saria asked. I found it unsettling that she didn't find it creepy that she was 2-D and I wasn't. She seemed too depressed to care about anything.

"I'm not sure." The racer replied. He bit his lip and his eyes swiveled around our simple surroundings. Everything was in black or a parchment kind of color.

That's when I spotted my house. "Hey! That's my house!" I pointed. I momentarily forgot that I was a 3-D and that everything else was 2-D, and that I had to maintain my balance, so I took a step without thinking – and fell off the line I was standing on.

I screamed but Saria caught my hand. It was strange to have contact with a 2-D. It felt like I was holding on to some strong piece of paper. She smiled at me, though the smile was feeble. I smiled back. Suddenly she slipped too. Captain Falcon caught her hand. It was like some sort of human chain. I was perplexed. Why did Saria fall if she was a 2-D?

My legs kicked back and forth against the air, as I tried to get up. It was no use. Captain Falcon couldn't support my weight being the 2-D light person that he was, and Saria and I slipped from his grasp and we plummeted…

Down, down, down…

And landed on soft grass. We peered around the place. Saria took a sharp breath. I noticed that we were back in our dimensions.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"I know where we are…" She whispered.

"Where?" I asked excitedly.

"My home town." She strode around, apparently looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked shrewdly. There was a mad glint in Saria's eyes. She didn't look entirely sane anymore.

"I'm looking for somebody."

"Who!" I asked.

"We call him the Deku Tree." She said, not bothering to look at me.

"We're looking for a tree!" I asked in a shrewd voice. I was about to remind Saria that the forest was _full_ of trees.

Saria rolled her eyes, noting my tone. "This one has a face. And it's the wisest tree in this forest. It's also the largest one." She said.

And so began our quest for the Deku Tree.

Or not.

"Stop!" I commanded. Saria stopped.

"What?" She said, with a huff.

"Isn't that, that strange creature? What're they called again…" I strained my brain for the creature's species but Saria beat it to me.

"They're pokemon. Excellent. More eyes." She looked at the small mouse and the cat-human pokemon. She strode over to them

Pichu gave an excited squeak when he saw us and scampered toward us. Mewtwo calmly strode forward. He betrayed no emotions in his eyes as usual.

"Hello Mr. Game and Watch. Saria." He inclined his head, as he spoke.

I smiled in return but Saria just gave an impatient "tuh" and asked, "Same, Mewtwo. Anyway, we're looking for the Deku Tree… You absolutely need to help us!"

Mewtwo stared at her for a while. "The Deku Tree?"

Saria nodded.

"I can't say I have spotted it." He answered.

Saria tapped her foot impatiently against the floor. "Then what are we waiting for!" She started to walk, Mewtwo and exchanged looks, shrugged and started to follow her, with Pichu at our heels.

I wondered what happened to Captain Falcon. Where was he? I continued to walk, thinking about the past events that happened. Then I noticed five humans standing and talking. I recognized their voices.

"Look!" I pointed to them.

_**Young Link**_

I saw Adeleine's eyes looking past Ness to know that she was dead. I saw Ness weeping over her. I saw Kirby's face twist into something that looked like agony, hatred, and sorrow. He looked up at the queen.

Popo, Nana, and I stood white-faced. I had seen creatures die before, but I don't think Nana or Popo had.

I put my arms around their shoulders. Nana hung her head, while Popo was still looking at Adeleine's body.

That's when I saw Ness. His naturally, good-tempered face, was contorted into fury. His face had turned a purple, red color. His eyebrows arched downward. He yelled something that I couldn't understand and him and Kirby charged at the Queen. They started to fight with her.

Ness used his psychic power to his extent. Kirby couldn't do much because he had nothing to copy out of.

All of a sudden, the Queen grabbed a spear-like stick from the corner and aimed it at Kirby and Ness. Right when the touched her, a beam of light shot out and before I could do anything, Kirby, Ness, and the Queen disappeared.

There was chaos before. But now there was only an eerie silence. There was nobody in the room right now.

"What now?" Nana asked. She was shaking.

"I don't know." Popo answered for all of us.

"We have to get out of here." I said. Seeing Adeleine's body made me more nervous by the second. Her eyes were blank. A chill shot up my spine. I would never forget that face. **(A/N: If you've ever seen somebody or something die/dead with its eyes open… you would probably never forget that look either, unless you've seen too many deaths to count.)**

"Wait." Nana's voice trembled. She walked over to Adeleine. She knelt down to Adeleine. It seemed strange to me that she wiped the sweat, and hair out of Adeleine's face. She also straightened out her clothes clothes. There was a large burn mark on her chest where she was hit, that Nana couldn't do anything about. But after straightening everything, she closed Adeleine's eyes.

Adeleine now looked peaceful. She looked like she was sleeping, if it weren't for the burn mark on her. I never knew Adeleine really well. But half of me wished she were just sleeping. Of course, I knew that wishing is quite different from happening.

Nana stood up. She was trembling all over and I couldn't blame her. After all, we weren't supposed to witness deaths at this age. She collapsed in Popo's arms, and that's when her tears started to fall.

"Oh Nana…" Popo said. But I could tell he had nothing to say next. He pushed her hood off and kissed her lightly on her head **(A/N: It's called brotherly, sisterly love people... so in case if you happen to be a pervert they aren't in love with each other),** hugging her tightly, as she sobbed.

I sat on the floor. Was it only the beginning? How many other people were going to end up like Adeleine?

Suddenly something caught my eye. "Guys…" I breathed.

"What is it?" Popo's shaky voice asked.

"The map." I croaked. It was on the floor.

Popo looked up and his eyes turned to where I was looking. He stared at it. Then he let go of Nana who was now breathing heavily, as if she just ran a marathon. She hiccupped occasionally.

"Don't touch it! You'll get burned!" I yelled.

"I'm wearing mittens." Popo reminded me. He picked it up. He didn't yell. He didn't flinch.

"Thank goodness you were wearing the mittens." I said.

"Yeah…" He walked over to us and I, Nana, and Popo took a look at the map.

"What the heck…?" I muttered.

_**Ganondorf's POV**_

"Thank you for rescuing my baby!" The woman gushed at Bowser and me. We stared, bewildered, back at her.

We had just gotten here, with a baby in my hands. And this random lady comes and thanks us for saving it? We were probably missing something here.

"Er… no problem." Bowser said.

The lady seemed entirely too happy. Come to think of it. This place was entirely too happy.

"Would you care to tell us where we are?" I asked.

"Oh you are in Sunnyville!" the woman exclaimed brightly.

Ganondorf and I eyed each other. _That_ explained everything.

_I wonder how we got here…_ I wondered. This place wasn't meant for us. We were villains and this was some bright little Teletubbies world. We could not stay here.

We walked away. "How the hell did we get here!" Ganondorf asked, gesturing at the sunlight, and butterflies that flitted around his head lazily.

"I'm not sure." I frowned, swatting the butterflies out of my way. "But I don't like this place." I spat onto the ground.

Somebody gasped behind me. "Blasphemy!" It was an old man who was tottering on a gnarled old stick. He waved it around and yelled croakily, "I'm going to report yeh for that!"

"For what?"

"For spittin' on the floor, yeh old windbag!"

"You're the old windbag! What with the stick?" Ganondorf retorted.

"Yellin' back to us seniors, eh?" He said with an evil glint with his eye. He fumbled inside his cloak and drew out a locket. He opened and pressed a button. Within a few minutes we heard police sirens.

Within a few more moments we were in a leaky dungeon. "Great." I grunted. "This place looks awful." I looked at cell we were in. It was dank, and uncomfortable. Water dripped everywhere and everywhere was wet. It was filthy even for me!

"Right. Man, even Zelda never had to endure this. I usually trapped her in a _clean_ crystal." Ganondorf said.

I guiltily stared at the floor. "Kinda makes me feel bad for Peach." I said.

"What! You put her in an easily escapable prison!" Ganondorf shoot his Gerudo head. "Man, you're a crappy villain."

"Please." I growled, "At least I don't rely on two witches to always call you back from the dead." I rolled my eyes.

"Twinrova's good as a henchmen than your stupid henchment. What are their names again? Ludwig, Roy…?"

"That's none of your concern. At least I'm-"

"What the hell! Look at that!" He pointed. I turned around—and saw that a wall opened into a forest. I wondered. I wonder what it led to…

Ganondorf was already going through the wall. "C'mon, you prune!" He said. I followed.

"Whoa… The smell of this place, smells almost like Hyrule!" He said. He took a deep sniff and sneezed.

"Idiot." I muttered. I followed him out. The air did smell sweeter out here.

"Now what?" I asked.

-&&&-&&&-

END OF CHAPTER 13

Ugh… You have no idea how much I had to press my brain to do this. I constantly kept running out of ideas. Thank **babykoalaprincess** because I promised her that if I didn't update before July 1st she would bash me with a hammer XD. So… feedback? I know it ended crappy, but oh well. I'm just happy that I'm done. If you think I forgot about Fox, Falco, and Krystal, I really didn't. I just ran out of ideas, and I decided to put it in the next chapter, just to make that chapter longer.

Oh yeah… Also, I'm going to New York tomorrow to visit my cousins. I'm going to be gone for about a week or so. So if you think I'm dead, I really am not. XD


	14. Truth or Dare

Chapter 14 – **Truth or Dare**

So here is chapter 14. I guess you could call this the turning point of the story (Finally! You guys must be saying) Anyhow… Well, I have nothing much to say except enjoy the story!

As I have to say before… there are a lot of people I have to thank. My sister namely, because she let's me use her computer, my mother who actually thinks I have potential in writing… and of course my faithful reviewers… namely **Superkawaiifreak**, who is probably my most faithful reviewer here. She actually came back to me, even after that big period of me being dead.

Disclaimer: If I were to own Super Smash Bros. Melee there would be Jedi, elves, and Gollum/Smeagol… if you've gotten those characters… well that means that SSBM is owned by me! But until then…

Oh yes… What should I say… Oh yeah… this is rated F for fluff between Roy/Peach.

Okie dokie… now, here is Chapter 14. I hope you enjoy!

X.X.X

Link opened his eyes slowly. He wondered where he was. And it didn't take long to figure out that Captain Falcon was squishing him against a rough, wooden wall, apparently unconscious.

"Finally, you're awake," a familiar voice exclaimed. Her voice was lucid, and it cleared Link's head thoroughly.

"Samus?" He asked.

"Duh," the bounty huntress grinned at Link's squashed face, then grabbed the back of Captain Falcon's collar and dragged him off Link.

"Thanks," he said. He stood up to stretch… and immediately hit the ceiling.

"Ow…" he sat back down and glared at the low ceiling that prevented him from standing up.

"Yeah… That's what I said too, when I tried standing up," Samus grinned.

Link's eyes swiveled around the area. It was a simple room. Small, squat and entirely made of wood. There was a tiny window to let the hot air in, and a door, that Samus said, refused to budge open.

"How… how did we get here?" Link stammered, when the shock of finding himself in a different room wore off. "I mean… I remember I was with Peach. And there was this plushie unicorn that was trying to buck me off and then I became bite-sized and then I conked out. And now I'm here!" He exclaimed.

Being a bounty hunter, Samus was way smarter than the average mind. But right now, she was still trying to wrap her head around that story. She gave up entirely. Link saw her puzzled face and proceeded to explain what happened. Then Samus said, "I'm not sure how we came here. All I remember was that I was disappearing. In this white place. And I also remember that I was with Roy. But that's basically it."

"Now you're pulling my leg," Link laughed.

"Seriously," Samus laughed with him. Then she proceeded told him her adventure in detail.

Link frowned. He stared at the floor that was covered with people, who were also unconscious. And as he looked at them for a moment, a slight glimmer of truth dawned on him.

"Samus…" He said, scanning the hot room, looking at the 10 other people in the room.

"What?" Samus asked.

"Tell me…"

"What!" She asked impatiently.

"These people in the room. Do we… is there any connection between all of us?" Link asked.

"Um… not that I know of…" Samus started. She turned to face the Hylian. "Why?"

"Every single person who _could_ hold the map… is here. In this room," Link said.

Samus looked puzzled, "Why would we be here, if we can hold the map?"

"I'm not sure… but there has to be a reason." Link said biting his lip as he watched Captain Falcon awaken with a moan.

""Wha…" He looked really confused as he surveyed his surroundings.

So while Samus explained what was going on, Link sat trying to sort it all out. All of them, kids and teens were picked for this theme park. It was a "Test". And somehow these strange map pieces were given to them. And then people started dying, not to mention Peach getting into some really close shaves. And then there was the incident between Saria, me, and Zelda. Link still didn't know what possessed Saria to try—scratch that, actually—break their relationship. It seemed that ever since Saria had come to the Amusement Park, she was always acting moody, strange, and not her normal way. Vaguely, Link wondered if Medusia had anything to do with it.

Speaking of which… was Medusia only killing people because of a silly feud between Peach and her for Roy's heart? It seemed highly unlikely. There was something else involved. Something far more sinister. There had to be a different reason besides popularity and Roy. Although Link had no idea _what_ it was.

Finally… where the heck were they? Link and crew were standing in front of a run-down house… and all of a sudden… they were transported to different places… and then, half of them were in this wooden place? It really didn't make any sense.

"We need to get out of here!" Captain Falcon exclaimed.

"In case if you haven't noticed genius, the door is barred. I'm going to kill the person who stuck us in here." Samus said. She was avoiding his eyes, for a reason that Link didn't know of **(A/N: When Samus thought Capt. Falcon was her Secret Admirer)**

"I am truly sorry." A cold chuckle came from the door, sounding as though he really didn't mean that he was sorry, "But there was a very good reason."

It was Giovanni.

X.X.X

"You okay Krystal?" Fox asked from his cockpit. She flashed him a grin through her screen. She looked okay and calm on the Great Fox.

Beside Fox, an Arwing dove expertly beside him, and the person inside did a thumbs up. _I didn't ask Falco if he was okay… but wait… since when does Falco do a thumbs up? He thinks they'll burn his ego…_

Fox looked again at the person. Was it the tint of the window, or did the person inside look a soft blue-purple color? He strained his eyes and realized that it wasn't Falco after all.

"Krystal! What are you doing here!" He shouted in surprise.

"What do you mean I'm doing here? I got invited to this creepy amusement park and-"

"That's not what I meant. I mean… what are you doing in an Arwing?" I asked.

"Killing herself." Came the reply of a rather surly Falco, who shot an enemy down.

"No! I know how to fly an Arwing better than our last mission! Rob gave me some pointers and I decided to try them out!" Krystal exclaimed.

The reason Fox did not want Krystal in an Arwing was because of their last mission. She nearly killed herself and an Arwing by crashing. If it weren't for Peppy saving her, she probably wouldn't be arguing with Fox right now.

"Well, I hope you know how to fly it _good_ because, we're on the sun right now, which means you might overheat yourself," grumbled Falco, who was recklessly fighting a firebird.

It was true. They were on the sun level **(A/N: In Star Fox64, there's a sun level that you have to go through. Since its really hot, you gain damage by the second.)** And it _was_ hot, despite the excellent cooling unit in the Star Fox team's Arwings. Fox was sweating, and worrying about Krystal's safety was drawing the limit.

"Fox!" Falco cried out. The firebird he had been battling had shot him in the wing. The last he saw of his wing was dissolving in the churning and boiling hot lava below. He was now imbalanced.

"Falco, fly up to the Great-"

But Fox never got past the sentence. A firebird had snuck up on him and shot him right in his engine. Fox's Arwing, now out of control was crashing into the fire. Falco and Krystal watched in fear. But something amazing happened. The firebird that had shot Fox down, sped toward Fox, picked up Fox in his claws and soared away, out of the sun.

"Did you see that?" Falco exclaimed, his screen popping up on Krystal's control panel. For somebody who was moody, and hardly showed his feelings, Falco was looking pretty shocked.

"Yeah, I think we should follow-" Krystal stopped, looking at Falco's plane. A firebird swooped up on him and threw a lava rock at him.

_**Bam!**_

Krystal watched in horror as Falco's Arwing was sloping downward, its nose drooping as if going to sleep. But something else happened. Something strange.

"Wha…?" Krystal asked herself, astonished. Falco's Arwing, was supposed to have dissolved, or crashed into the lava. But instead it had gone right _through_ it.

Krystal frowned. This went against whatever she learned on solids and liquids. Falco and his Arwing went through the lava like it was—

"Gas…" breathed Krystal. She wondered if she could go through it. There was nothing left for her here. Fox was gone, and Krystal knew that there was no hope in finding him. However Falco was easy within reach.

On the other hand this was risky. What if Krystal's eyes deceived her and she crashed into oblivion in the lava? She didn't know what to do.

_What am I supposed to do? Go after Fox, whose probably light-years away by now? Is there any hope I can still reach him? And what about Falco?_

But Krystal couldn't think much longer. She had hesitated to long in midair. The firebird shot a rock at her Arwing, and whether she liked it or not, she found herself flying downward to the lava.

She instinctively screwed her eyes shut and jolted the control stick toward her. It wouldn't prevent her from crashing fully but it would help her survive. She braced herself, waiting for the crash.

Because Krystal's eyes were closed she didn't see herself going through the lava as if it never existed. Even though Krystal prepared to crash, her heart still jolted as she was thrown against the window. Smoke engulfed the cockpit and the emergency door opened automatically. With her now opened eyes streaming, Krystal came out, waving the smoke away with one hand. When her eyes cleared she saw Falco, who was leaning against his wrecked plane.

"Falco… you're alive?" Krystal asked.

"No, I'm dead, and I was miraculously brought alive," Falco sarcastically responded. Then bad mood cleared, and he asked, "Where are we?"

"I… I don't know," Krystal admitted, looking around at the lush forest, "But what I just experienced now was the most weirdest thing ever."

"Tell me about it," Falco said. He walked over to Krystal and stared at the brilliant blue sky.

"It is a pleasure meeting you here," a dream-like, voice said, just above a whisper.

"And now that we have met, you must come with us. Your destiny awaits you," yet another voice said. This voice was bold, warm, and friendly. But it also held a touch of mystery.

Falco and Krysta's heads shot down to the voices. They saw two children standing in front of them. One was a girl and one was a boy.

"I'm not going anywhere with you kid," snarled Falco.

"I believe that we are older than you. To be exact we are reaching the age of one hundred. You may call us children, but our age difference is very high. I am called Luna by the way, and I am High Advisor to the Moon. May I ask what your names are?"

The dream-like voice belonged to the girl. The girl looked a little past five years old, but Krystal did not doubt that she was almost one hundred. Her large pale blue eyes were like orbs and they reflected wisdom in them. Silvery long blonde hair fell in sheets down her back. She was wearing a long silver dress, with sleeves that widened considerably at the end, and currently covered her delicate and frail figure. The dress was so long that it swept the floor when she walked and glinted softly in the sunlight. It seemed as if she had hardly seen the sun because her skin was so pale, it looked almost gray. In one hand she held a staff that had something that looked like a mini-moon on top. Currently it was half-shaped, though Krystal guessed that it changed according to the days. The cycle of the moon was crudely carved onto the wooden stick part. The whole image of the girl looked vague, and a little ghostly.

"The name's Krystal. And this is my friend, Falco. You have to excuse his manners," Krystal whispered the last sentence to them as an afterthought.

"I heard that," Falco exclaimed.

"Do not be heated by what your friend Krystal has just said, it has a little truth in it. My name is Solus and I am High Advisor to the Sun."

The warm friendly voice belonged to the boy. His hair was flaming golden. His skin was tanned though his cheeks were rosy and dimpled and he was pleasantly plump. He had a cheerful, inviting look to his face, and his hazel eyes had a mischievous look to it. But you could also see that he was wise too. He wore bright yellow, orange, and red robes and had a staff the looked exactly like Luna's except on the top there was a model of the sun hovering over it. And on the stick had crude designs of the sun rising, and setting. The boy, contrary to the girl, looked brighter than usual.

"Hi," Krystal said, "So what are you guys doing on the face of Earth if you are High Advisors?"

"The mighty sun and moon tell when we come down. Apparently, it seems as if you two need help to escape from this mess. And your friends do too. That is why we are here. If you two, pass a test of ours, you may be able to find yourself with lesser problems." Luna said.

"Either that… or you're a pair of nutters…" muttered Falco.

"Our friends? You know where they are!" Krystal asked. He looked at the kids interestedly.

In response to Krystal's statement, Luna and Solus held up their staffs and pointed it toward the ground. A mirror image was on the floor, showing half the group. It seemed as if they were in the forest too. It also looked like they had just met up and were chatting about their adventures. Krystal counted Dr. Mario, Peach, Bowser, Ganondorf, Saria, Mr. Game & Watch, Pichu, Mewtwo, Marth, Roy, and Zelda before the image dissolved.

"Whoa… how did you do that!" an amazed Falco asked.

"It's called the Art of Scrying and is very useful," Solus explained. Then he turned to Krystal, "We are going to your friends. Do you care to join us?"

"Do we ever! C'mon Falco, let's go!" She said tugging on his arm.

"Wait a second… how do we know that you munchkins aren't lying?" He asked, wrenching himself from her grasp.

"You will have to trust us," Luna simply said.

"We are forbidden to lie," Solus said, "It is for the Moon and Sun's protection."

"C'mon Falco… We have to trust them. What if it is a way out of here?" Krystal pleaded.

"Oh fine! I'm coming…" Falco said, but when Luna and Solus turned their backs on the Star Fox pilots, Falco shot them a skeptical look.

"After all you've been through, I'm sure that you have a reason to be unsure of us," Luna said in her quiet voice, as though she read Falco's mind.

"I sure as hell do," Falco muttered to Krystal, "First we've been teleported to a memory, then we crash through lava into this forest thing, while our leader gets captured by some stupid firebird thing, and finally we see suspicious little kids who look five but they're almost one-hundred. And they know some pretty advanced magic," He added.

If Solus or Luna heard that, they didn't comment on it.

They walked through the forest in silence for five minutes, while the birds twittered around them. Then Krystal broke the silence by asking, "So wait… you said we had to pass a little test of yours. What exactly is this test?"

"This sort of test is honored by all our people. We take this challenge very seriously. It is used in trial and bets. Alas, you know well of it as well. But you humans—and er… animals—know of it too. But you call it a game."

"So what's this game? Tag?" Krystal asked.

Luna turned around and stared at her straight through the eye. Krystal caught a glimpse of sympathy in them, but it vanished before Krystal could clarify it. "The "game" that we are playing is called Truth…" She said, as they reached the same clearing that Krystal and Falco saw in the Scryed image.

"…or Dare," finished Solus.

X.X.X

"It looks like our final member is here," Giovanni said through a smirk. Fox appeared a second later, the shoulders of his clothes singed.

"Fox!" Link exclaimed. He helped the vulpine to the floor, who was breathing heavily, looking exhausted but at least he wasn't conked out.

"Welcome Map Bearers. I trust you know why you're here?" Giovanni asked.

A murmur of confusion was heard through the now 12 creatures and humans alike.

"Do not tell me that you do not know," Giovanni said through his annoyingly superior smirk.

"Either you're going to stay here forever saying that, or you can tell us why," Samus said testily.

Giovanni's smile broadened. A couple people shifted uneasily in the room. Giovanni paced around the little area of the room, not even bothering to apologize to the people he was stepping on.

"You twelve are the only ones that can hold the map, am I not correct?" Giovanni asked smoothly.

There was a collective murmur of assent through the room. "The map is the answer to your location. You thought that I had scattered you throughout various lands. You thought that you all were far apart. But in fact, your friends are within each other's reach, they just need to look into their minds," Giovanni said.

"What?" Link asked, while others simply looked puzzled.

"It is exactly what I said," Giovanni simply stated. Suddenly his face lightened up. "And now that most of all your fellow friends are reunited, I suppose you will enjoy watching them suffer from the sidelines."

Instantly he snapped his fingers and a screen filled the whole wall. The group saw everybody there except…

"Where are Young Link, Nana and Popo?" Ness asked.

"Indeed, where are they?" Giovanni said, looking genuinely curious. But his eyes still glittered with malice. "I will leave you in peace to see your friends' fate," he said, before taking out a key, inserting it in the lock and opening the door. Link got up to barge his way out but Giovanni shut the door quickly and locked it before Link even had the chance to make a move.

There was nothing left to do except watch, and pray for their friends safety.

X.X.X

Once Solus and Luna introduced themselves they explained the rules for Truth or Dare.

"You will pick either truth or dare," Luna quietly said.

"If you pick truth, Luna will ask you a question about your personal life. Do not think that you can fool her and lie. If you lie, you are out of the game.

"If you pick dare, I will assign you a dare. If you are not able to do the dare, you are out of the game," Solus said.

"What happens if you're out of the game?" Pichu squeaked nervously.

Solus just gave her a look and said in an unusually solemn voice, "Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies."

That made everybody shudder.

"You are first," Solus, said smiling warmly and pointing his staff at Dr. Mario. "Truth or dare?"

Not wanting to look like a chicken, Dr. Mario mustered up all the confidence he had and said, "Dare."

Solus gazed deeply into his eyes for a minute then said quietly, "I dare you to operate on yourself."

Dr. Mario nervously looked at him, "How?"

"There is a bug in your left eye. You must take the bug out. Whatever tool you wish for, I will be happy to bring them to you."

Murmurs of disgust filled the group. People looked like they were about to be sick.

Dr. Mario did not want to do the operation, but he had no choice. "Okay, I'm going to need a mirror…" He started saying all the medical tools he needed, and as named each tool, one appeared.

Then Dr. Mario started operating on himself. He used one hand throughout the process to hold a mirror to see what he was doing and the whole time, he was sweating. When he extracted the eyeball out, there were murmurs of disgust. Zelda and Peach actually looked away, their faces greener than a traffic light.

Strings of flesh hung loosely out of his empty socket. He tenderly dropped it onto the table he requested. For about fifteen minutes he worked on getting the "bug" out. The bug turned out to be a metal bug that had glowing red eyes. He threw it on the floor and it scuttled away. It took about a half an hour to put back his eye, and when he did, everybody applauded.

"You have passed," Solus said.

This quieted the crowd down. They stared at Solus's warm face, and wondered what would the next person be and what he would do.

"You are next," Luna pointed at Zelda.

Zelda walked up to Luna and calmly said, "Truth."

Luna gave a silvery little laugh, that made the rest of the group jump and then she smiled at Zelda.

"Good," Luna said. She closed her orb-like eyes for a moment and when she reopened them she stared at Zelda, with such intensity that Zelda felt her insides go cold. She didn't know why she felt it, but there was something about Luna that made her seem inferior. Zelda, as possessor of the Triforce of Wisdom always had the upper hand when it came to knowledge. But this time, she felt very stupid and meek.

"I shall ask you a question. And you will answer it. You must answer it with a loud and clear voice so that everybody can hear you. Am I clear?" Luna asked.

"Yes," a now nervous Zelda replied.

"Is it, or is it not true, that you love Link and wish it more than ever that you both can be together?"

Zelda stared, awestruck at Luna. _How did she know? _She thought in disbelief. _Can she read minds?_ Zelda thought nervously.

"We are waiting, princess," Luna's whispery voice penetrated Zelda's thoughts.

Zelda's face was red. Her head was pointing down. It was now or never. She tilted her head up and her bright blue eyes matched Luna's gaze, "Yes. I wish that I could be together again with him. But I don't think he feels the same way to me, especially the way I treated him before this happened."

Luna stared at Zelda. Then her face broke into a smile, "You have passed."

Zelda was shaking when she walked back. There was scattered applause, because nobody actually knew what was going on between Zelda and Link.

"Zelda," Saria said, as Zelda walked back.

"What?" Zelda grunted. The last person she wanted to talk to now besides Link was Saria.

"I-I wanted to let you know that I'm really sorry for breaking up your relationship with Link. I know it meant a lot to you," she stammered.

"Oh really? That's great," Zelda found that she really didn't care if Saria apologized or not. One apology from Saria wouldn't fix whatever Link would do to Zelda. Zelda started to walk away, but Saria grasped her firmly on the shoulder. Zelda turned around.

"Wait… there's more," Saria pleaded, "Hear me out. I know I've been acting really weird lately."

"You think?" Peach butted in from nowhere.

Saria glared at her before continuing; "There was a reason for it. It was Medusia. She bribed me! She said to break things up between you two, and she also told me to steal Samus's map piece."

"And you did whatever she said?" Peach asked in utter disbelief.

"She said that in exchange for all my doings, she would give me Zelda's status, to Link." Saria flushed when she said it. Zelda didn't comment, and Peach didn't either. Encouraged, Saria went on, "When I found out why she really was doing it, I told her I didn't want to do her dirty work. She was really mad. She threatened me of all sorts. So I went to her lab, and switched around a couple of bottles in the room. Some were poisonous so I refilled it with water. One of them even was a love potion! I was skepti-"

"Wait a second," Roy, who had been eavesdropping from a few feet away, "You said that you saw a love potion. Did you tamper with it?"

"Um… yeah. I dumped it out, and replaced it with Pepto Bismol, because they were the same shades of color."

Roy burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Saria frowned.

"Nothing." Roy said. He seemed a whole lot happier.

"Anyway. So I tampered with her potions. I tried to do as much damage as I could, but I only messed up a few. But while I was in her lab I overheard her talking with Giovanni!" Saria said.

"Giovanni?" Falco said, joining the conversation.

"Yeah. You won't believe that he's working for her!"

"Giovanni's working for Medusia!" Marth exclaimed. He clapped a hand to his forehead, and muttered, "Why didn't I see this before?"

"What's up buddy?" Roy asked.

"Giovanni is the one who made a mess between Samus and I. He said that if I didn't kill Samus and steal her map piece, then he would conquer my kingdom with a legion of powerful Pokemon." Marth explained.

Roy let out a low whistle, "That explains why you were so harsh to her, yesterday night!"

"What happened yesterday night?" Peach demanded. But nobody paid attention to her.

"Go on," Zelda prodded Saria softly.

"Anyway, I also heard the reason _why_ Medusia is doing this. She's been a spoiled brat, and she's got whatever she wanted except for one thing. Attention. Master Hand is her foster father, and he never showed her attention or love. He left that to her tutors, wet nurses, and governesses. And when she heard about this theme park, she got even more jealous. The reason why Master Hand is doing this is because he wants us to become stars of some sort. Whoever passes this Test, will become a celebrity. I'm not sure why they'll be famous, but he'll make the winning participants stars!

"When Medusia heard about this, she was really mad. She sabotaged everything. She killed people, and planned to take everybody's map pieces so that everybody here would be trapped." Saria explained.

"Wait… but then…" Roy frowned, "Why is Medusia messing up Samus, Marth, Zelda, and Link's love lives?" Peach noticed that he didn't mention her or him.

"She's jealous of you all. Ever since high school she's been jealous of all of you. She's known about the famous Zelda and Link couple. She was jealous about their undying relationship. As for Marth and Samus, she couldn't understand why a prince would fall for a plain bounty hunter. After all, nobody fell for her, when she was rich and beautiful. And she's always been crushing on Roy, and is mighty jealous of Peach," Saria explained.

"Oh,"

"Saria, you are next," interrupted Solus.

Marth saw that aside from Dr. Mario and Zelda, Bowser, Ganondorf, and Mr. Game & Watch had gone already, during their little conversation. He wondered what they had to do and if they picked truth or dare.

"Truth or dare?" Luna asked.

"Um… Dare," Saria nervously said.

"Okay," Solus stared directly at Saria. Saria uncomfortably shifted as she stared back.

"Your dare is to start a fire in this forest," Solus said.

"What! But you don't understand! This is my home! I could not possible start a fire in my own home. I am Sage of this forest you cannot make me do-"

"…Will you do it?" Solus interrupted.

"Are you kidding! No! I will never hurt a forest that I grew up in!"

Scarcely after Saria had spoken those words, there was a clapping noise that sounded like thunder. A blinding flash of light… and Saria was gone.

"What did you do!" Zelda asked, horrified.

"Nothing. She has refused to do the dare. She lost. She is eliminated from this game," Luna said. The way she said it, brought chills up everybody's spines.

"W-where did you send her?" Krystal asked nervously, not even sure she wanted to know the answer.

"How do you present life creatures say it? Ah yes… that is for me to know and you to find out," Solus said.

The group exchanged looks with each other nervously. Nobody wanted to find out where she went.

"You are next," Luna said, in her whisper-like voice. She pointed her staff at Falco, who stepped up, "Truth or dare?" She asked.

"Dare," Falco said.

"Swallow your pride, Falco," Solus commanded.

"Er… what?" Falco asked.

"Swallow your pride, and crash your Arwing, and humiliate yourself."

"But… my Arwing is crashed already! You saw it!" Falco said. What kind of a dare was this? This wasn't exactly swallowing his pride.

"Well then here you go," Solus waved his staff around and everybody but Solus and Luna jumped when they saw an Arwing appear magically, buffed and gleamingly clean.

"Crash it," Solus commanded.

Falco had never seen his Arwing as beautiful as now. And now he had to crash it. He felt as if he was losing his best friend over again, but he climbed into the cockpit anyway.

As he shot up from the ground, he couldn't help admiring how smoothly the ship moved. But he knew he had business, so wincing, he jerked the joystick up and the nose of the Arwing immediately shot down.

Falco felt a sense of dread. His hands twitched on the joystick, almost jolting it downward, so that it could go up. _But then I would lose the dare…_ he thought sadly. So he kept the joystick upward. He screwed his eyes shut, counting downward, to see how long it would take.

_3…_

Falco wasn't even sure why he was doing this.

_2… _

He wasn't even sure if he was sane anymore.

_1…_

_**CRUUUUNCH!**_

Falco was thrown against the cockpit's window for the second time. Jet steams hissed around him as he pulled the emergency hatch open. At first it wouldn't budge because it was jammed. But as Falco threw himself against the door, it reluctantly hissed open. He got out of the smoking, once beautiful Arwing.

"A pass," Solus flashed a warm smile at him.

Falco walked back to the group, a sense of relief, and sadness overwhelming him. _At least it was less daring than what Dr. Mario did._ He thought.

"You are next," Luna whispered, "Truth or dare?"

Marth walked up, "Truth." And that's when he started feeling as if a sudden chill was piercing his soul, and before he could figure out what was going on, it stopped.

"What do you value more; your kingdom… or Samus?" Luna asked.

Marth thought about the kingdom he was exiled from. His childhood memories, being treated like royalty… _But I was banished from my kingdom… and there is nothing else left for me. It's time from me to move along._ He thought. And then he thought about his new found love.

He did not deny it. He didn't like Samus. No… he _loved_ her. He didn't want to be her boyfriend. He wanted to be her _soul mate_. And after all the pretty girls that his father had brought him in hopes of a suitor, his mind could only stay on one girl that was unique. A tough, wild, simple but pretty girl. One girl who was hard to open up. One who had her own job as a bounty huntress. _Samus… _he thought.

"…I value the thing that comforts me. I value the thing that makes me feel richer…"

_What! Is Marth just a gold digger?_ Zelda thought. She found herself disappointed in Marth. She believed that Marth was a soft, romantic person at heart. Somebody who valued a human and not wealth or power. But Zelda's thinking stopped when she heard Marth say his last words.

"I value Samus more than my kingdom." Marth said.

"A pass," Luna said. "I am proud that you value Samus Aran more than your kingdom. She is a bigger gem to your heart than your kingdom," she winked at him, and he grinned back.

"Pichu."

The young electric mouse nervously came forward. "Dare," she squeaked.

Solus smiled kindly at the mouse before saying, "Go through the dark tunnel. It is filled with demons and monsters. You must not scream, squeak, or utter any type of fear. Also you can never turn back until you get out the other end of the tunnel. Understand?"

Pichu whimpered, but nodded. A tunnel magically appeared from nowhere. And Pichu stumbled into the hole. Roars emerged from the tunnel, but the group didn't hear a single peep from the Pokemon.

Pichu saw the demons. Every single monster she'd had from a nightmare was in the tunnel, odd enough. She squeezed her eyes shut, which helped a little. But the roars that erupted inside still made it hard for her not to squeak or yell. The din was deafening, but Pichu kept going. She wanted to look back so badly, so she could be comforted by friends, but knew she would lose the dare. Trembling, she walked as casually as possible. She considered breaking for it, but feared that she would be eliminated if she ran. Finally she opened her eye a peep. There was only a couple more feet to be covered. She quickened her pace, hoping she didn't look scared. Finally she reached the end.

"I did it!" Pichu yelled, before she was teleported back to the entrance. She scampered up to Solus and repeated, "I did it!"

"Yes you did. You have passed," Solus smiled.

Pichu squealed in happiness and ran back.

"Mewtwo," Luna called out, if you could call it calling out.

"I am here," Mewtwo stated, floating forward calmly. Everybody was curious as what he would say. "Dare."

"Endure 15 minutes without your meditation powers," Solus said, and before Mewtwo could respond, he felt a sudden change in the atmosphere.

And he felt a sudden pressure coursing through his body. He didn't know what was going on. Adrenaline rushed through, making him feel numb and cold. _Is this how panic is supposed to feel?_ He thought wildly.

He dropped to his knees on the floor. He moaned in agony as images flashed through his brain. He tried but he could not control the increasing panic that mounted with each second. He couldn't control it. Would he die in panic? A yell of "Stop!" tore through his lips.

The group never saw Mewtwo like this. Mewtwo losing control? Impossible. 15 minutes seemed like 15 days, and when Mewtwo finally got his meditation powers back he was breathing heavily like a wounded rhinoceros.

"Pass," Solus said.

Everybody didn't seem to want to come close to Mewtwo as he floated gently back to the crowd as though nothing had happened.

"Peach," Peach jumped. She was so concerned over her fellow friends that she forgot that it was her turn. Shakingly she ambled slowly to Solus.

"Dare," her voice shook when she said it.

Solus closed his eyes for a minute. "Consume whatever is in your pocket. But only drink half of it."

This was where it ended. Peach slowly took out the bottle that she had been carrying, even though Roy and Dr. Mario told her to throw it away. Either way, Peach would die. She definitely didn't want to end up where Saria ended. And who knows? Maybe the potion wasn't poisonous.

Peach uncorked the bottle, and raised the bottle to her lips. Slowly her lips parted and the liquid seeped through. It tasted… _delicious!_ Out of all things, Peach never thought the potion would taste this good. It was sweet and addictive. She wanted to down the whole bottle! But then she remembered the dare. _Only drink half the bottle._ Reluctantly, she only downed half of it and spilled the rest on the grass.

But now she was anxious. What if it was poison? Suddenly she was hit with pain in her head. It felt like somebody had pierced her brain with thousands of tiny shard glass. She dropped on all fours, trying to stay alive. _I don't want it to end like this!_ She thought desperately, trying to stay conscious. But the grass that she was looking at was fading in and out, becoming blurrier by the second.

"Peach!' Roy's voice sounded from very far away, like she was hearing him from underwater.

And then Peach saw images that seemed familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was night. Two girls were beside her. One was a bounty huntress and the other was a princess. Both held looks of fear. And she heard a voice she hated with passion. Peach screwed her eyes shut to get the image more into her head. Medusia explaining who really had saved her life. Who Link really loved. And who Samus's famous secret admirer was.

Tears were running down her face, though Peach didn't quite know why. All she knew was that after she saw the memory, she was half lying down in somebody's arms. The person was half whispering half moaning something in her hair over and over. What was it?

"_I don't know what I would do without you…" _

Peach was suddenly hit with warmth. She knew this voice. She felt his tears falling down her hair, mingling with her own. "Roy?" She was disgusted with herself by how weak and faint she sounded, but it couldn't be helped.

"Peach!" She felt Roy's arms pull her up, out of the embrace. She wished she had never spoken, because she felt so warm and safe in there. "Are you alright?" He asked. She saw his face was pulled into concern.

"You lied to me all those times… why?" Peach asked through her tears.

"What?" Roy asked. Clearly he didn't know that Peach got her memory back.

"You saved me from the elevator. It was you who saved me from my attacker. Why did you lie and say it was Marth and Link!" Peach asked, the tears still flowing down.

For once in his life, Roy went against his brain's warnings and hugged the Mushroom Kingdom's princess to him. "I never wanted to admit that I loved you. I used to think love was for fools. It isn't something for a general like me, and I didn't want to get your hopes up high. Sometimes love is a crazy thing. But now, I guess I can't back out from the truth." He pulled her face close to his. "Peach. This will sound sappy to you… and I admit… I'm embarrassed to say this… but there's no other way to say it… I kinda... like—no—love you." Before he could stop himself, he kissed her on the lips. Their tears made it bittersweet, but Peach wouldn't have traded it for the world.

"Roy… Just promise me one thing," Peach said, when they drew away.

"What?"

"Never say love is for fools. And don't ever lie to me like that again. Is that clear?" Peach asked firmly.

"Yeah," then Roy couldn't help himself, "Peachy keen."

"Roy!" Peach started laughing and hit him on the shoulder playfully. She stood up, pulling Roy with her.

Solus looked up at her, "Pass," he smiled at them.

"Pass," Luna smiled too, looking at Roy.

"What? But I didn't even go yet!" Roy protested.

"Actually, you did. I knew you were going to pick truth, and I was going to ask you about your feelings to Peach. But now that you did it already…" Luna tossed her silvery blonde hair back and smiled.

Roy beamed. He felt like the luckiest person on earth. And Peach felt like she was the luckiest person on earth too.

Once they had retreated back to the crowd, Solus called out, "Krystal."

Peach and Roy were feeling giddy. They knew that their adventure was still going on, but it made it seem much better when you had somebody you loved right by your side to confront the adventure with you.

X.X.X

The three kids peered at the map that was in front of them.

"This doesn't make any sense…" Popo muttered looking at the map.

"I think the map's gone whack." Nana added.

"But yet it makes perfect sense." Young Link said.

On the map showed all 27 teenagers, animals, and creatures alike who had stood in front of the house before. There was one exception. They were now _in_ the house. The house consisted of 3 rooms. The right room held 12 people, who were strewing about in that room. _The Map-Bearers to be precise_, Young Link thought as he read their names on the map.

The rest of them were in the left room, in a perfect circle. None of them were moving. "Wait a minute," Nana who was studying the map with a frown, ordered, "Link… walk about ten steps."

Link took giant steps. But on the map he wasn't moving. "That's weird," murmured Popo.

"Well, it took you long enough to find out that this was just an illusion of everything around you." A cold feminine voice sneered on our right. We turned around.

Surprise, surprise. It was Medusia.

X.X.X

END OF CHAPTER 14…

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing it up (especially the Peach/Roy part!) Don't worry though… Marth/Samus and Link/Zelda will be in the next chapter… That's a **Crystalicios **promise!

Wait a minute… Don't take that promise for granted. But anyway, please read (Which you've probably already and review and tell me what you think about it! Criticism and flames are accepted.


	15. A Sunset to Behold

Okay, I was a little messed up on this… but now I'm not. This might be the last chapter. I don't know. It depends. Thank you very much **tanimax**! I cannot express how grateful I am to all you reviewers. You guys rock! –eyes brim with tears- if it weren't for you, I probably would've never continued… SO THANKS!

Also thanks goes to **ptpeach**! I looove you sooo much for reviewing this and _Clearing the Truth_! PEACH LOVERS UNITE! XD

Disclaimer: Once more, I don't own Nintendo, SSBM or any other characters that I have mentioned besides Medusia, Solus, and Luna. They are my own.

X.X.X

_Young Link was submerged in water. Bubbles surrounded him and his vision was blurry. The water was green and murky and he flailed his arms in panic. He willed himself to calm down as he surveyed his surroundings. Seaweed and other unidentifiable objects filled his eyesight that was currently short ranged. And then he saw something that broke his calm. _

_Floating white hair, pale white skin, and popping white sockets where the eyes should have been. Young Link stared for a moment at the corpse. Then he gasped, and sputtered for he was in water. The corpse was alive, and it stretched out a rotting hand, grabbed the neck of his shirt and—_

"Oy! I'm just trying to help you!" Nana grappled with Young Link for a moment as the young elf flailed against her. Finally she lost all patience and slapped him across the face. His bright blue eyes finally opened and stared at Nana's dark ones for a minute. Then they broke the contact and turned away hastily.

"Good, you're awake," Popo said, oblivious to the little moment that had just took place. "_Now_ what do we do?" He sighed.

Young Link was really confused. He was sitting in a sort of… _pod_. The pod was filled with wires coming in and out and was made entirely of metal, save for the glass hatch that could open on the front. He sat up, before realizing it was filled in a sort of breathable liquid. He glanced around. They were in a wooden, hot room. He jumped out of the pod, sloshing the liquid everywhere only to find more pods lined up. Twelve were empty. The rest were full of sleeping people that Young Link remembered were interested in the map, and had come with them.

"Wha… What happened?" He asked, rubbing his eyelids, and staring at the pod that held Dr. Mario in. He looked at the floating Italian whose coat was floating eerily.

Then he remembered Ness and Kirby. He ran around the room, looking for a bright pink blob and a psychic kid.

He couldn't find them.

Nana watched him, look for Ness and Kirby frantically. She sighed, "You passed out right after that weird girl came. I think she knocked you out. Anyway, Popo and me had to fight her, because she was attacking us. Popo knocked her unconscious. There was some kind of remote in her pocket. It looked exactly like a T.V remote. So I pressed the red button. I woke up--"

"Wait a minute… what do you mean, _you woke up?_" Young Link asked.

Nana impatiently waved a hand at the pods, "Don't you understand Link?" She shook her head, causing her hood to fall off her head. Brown hair spilled down her face and she brushed the strands away hastily. Finally she spoke, "Ever since we met Giovanni at the entrance of that house, he made us all pass out… somehow. And then he put us in these pods. Ever since then, he's controlling our minds. _Everything was just an illusion_." She finished.

"What!" Young Link cried. He stared disbelievingly at an unconscious Link who was submerged in liquid looking peaceful, "But everything felt so… _real_."

"I know. Because you felt with your mind. That's how it works," Popo said.

Nana was examining Zelda's face. She looked pale, yet still peaceful and wise. There was an empty pod right next to Zelda. And next to the empty pod was Peach. Her hair was swirling around her, like golden dust and her crown had sunken on the floor long ago. _Samus must've been between them two. But where are they?_ She asked herself silently. She confronted the map.

It was strange that the map had the magical ability to go with them to a place only their minds. What made this map so special?

Nana closed her eyes, trying to think about the information.

"Guys look!" Popo was standing next to a working computer. The computer had a setting of a forest. And in the forest were…

"Zelda? Dr. Mario? Ganondorf?" There was only one person missing from the group that was still in the pod.

"It seems as if this computer is controlling whatever goes on," Popo said slowly, "So it has to be some sort of… cyber world."

"But where is Saria?" Young Link asked. He ran his eyes through the whole scene twice and couldn't find Saria. They stared at the screen and quite suddenly Krystal faded away.

"What just happened!" Nana screamed. The people on the screen jumped back. They nervously stared at each other.

"We need to get them out of here… _now_." Popo said firmly.

"But how?"

"I think we can arrange a portal of some sort," Popo said. There was a list of options on the side of the screen. He started clicking around.

A minute or two passed when all of a sudden he exclaimed, "I did it!"

"You did?" Young Link asked.

"Yeah… but in order to activate the portal… one of you have to go in," he said, biting his lip and looking at both of us, "I can't go, because I'm organizing the portal. One of you has to go."

"I'll go!" Nana shot up immediately.

"No you won't," Popo said, "I'm not letting you go in. Link's going in," he said.

"C'mon bro! I never get to go in the fray! You're always such an overprotective person! I'll be fine! I promise!" Nana pleaded.

"No! You're not going and that's final!" Popo shouted.

Nana glared at him for a moment, "I'm going whether you like it or not," she said in a dangerous voice.

Popo looked startled at Nana's behavior, "Fine. Go. But Link's coming with you," he said defiantly, "And that's that."

"Okay," Young Link said. Nana grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into a pod. Then she threw herself in one. She shut the hatch and immediately had she done so, breathable liquid began to fill the pod. The last thing Nana saw was Popo giving Young Link a remote similar to the one Nana and Popo had gotten from Medusia.

Then she blacked out.

"Wake up, Nan," A voice whispered to her. She didn't want to wake up. She felt really tired.

"Wake up," the voice said again. It sounded closer. She felt something tickling her face. She finally opened her eyes to see Young Link looking over her extremely close. His hair was tickling her. She yelped, sitting up, and in the process she accidentally hit his face.

"Ouch!" Young Link yelled. He rubbed his nose frantically, "I think you broke something," He glared at her.

"Sorry," Nana muttered. If truth were told, she always felt squeamish around him. And if he was this close…

"It doesn't matter now. We have to find…" He stopped suddenly.

Was that a rumbling noise? The elf and the Ice Climber looked around nervously. The rumbling stopped as soon as it came.

But still the children didn't move for a while. They waited nervously to hear anything. Twigs snapping, the breath of the wind, a creek bubbling, birds twittering, anything. But ever since the rumbling sounded, everything around them stopped.

Nana's heart was beating a tattoo against her chest. Young Link's eyes darted around, trying to discern anything in the setting that shouldn't be there. He was doing better than Nana because he'd faced adventures like these. Besides… this place seemed oddly familiar…

"D'you think it's gone?" Nana asked nervously.

"Maybe," Young Link answered. "I think we should keep moving," saying so he grabbed her by the arm and started to walk quietly toward the forest. Wearing his boots made the job easier.

For Nana, it was difficult. Her snowshoes had spikes on the bottom. Young Link was moving too fast for her. "Wait… hold on!" She couldn't keep up with him. Finally she fell over, bringing down Young Link as well, right next to her.

Twigs snapped, as they tried breaking their fall. Nana felt something scratch against her cheek. She knew it would leave a mark later. "Great," she heard Young Link mutter next to her.

"I'm sorry. Again," Nana said. But she really didn't mean it. She turned over… and spotted something quite strange. "Link! Look!" she grabbed his tunic and turned him over on his back.

"What now?" He grumbled then stared at the sky in a bemused sort of way.

A bird was motionless in midair. It was as though somebody had taken a picture of the bird flying and pasted it on the sky.

They looked at each other, silently. Then they helped themselves up.

"Know what's going on, Nana?" He asked. It was more of a rhetorical question but Nana answered it anyway.

"Time's stood still," She answered tonelessly.

"If we don't keep moving, we'll get caught in this time warp," he said, wiping his mouth with his forearm. "C'mon," he waved an arm and disappeared through the trees.

Nana followed. She was really scared now. She didn't know why, but she knew something bad was about to happen.

Strangely, her suspicion was right.

**X.X.X**

"Krystal!" Fox moaned. He looked at the screen. He saw her vanishing. He'd crawled over, putting his hands on the screen, willing to go in, and save her.

But that, of course, was impossible even in current circumstances.

Ness had gently pried Fox away from the screen using his PSI powers. Fox looked really devastated. Captain Falcon and Link comforted him, but nothing they said eased his pain.

_**Flash Back**_

"_Dare," Krystal said confidently. Her eyes showed no fear. In fact, they betrayed no emotion._

_Solus looked at her with sympathetic brown eyes. He truly showed genuine sympathy for the vixen. Krystal knew what was going to happen. She knew she wouldn't be able to fill the dare._

"_You know what will happen?" Solus asked sadly._

"_What do you mean?" Krystal feigned stupidity._

"_You know, you won't be able to fulfill the dare," Solus said gently, searching her eyes that had just begun to show fear._

"_What will happen to me?" Krystal fearfully asked._

_Solus merely looked down. He didn't say anything for a while. Then—"Do you want to know what will happen? Will you fulfill the dare?"_

_Perhaps it was instinctive intuition, but Krystal knew that even if she survived the dare, she felt as if it wasn't her role to share the glory. She didn't know why this hit her so powerfully, but it did. "I can't do this dare." She sunk to her knees._

_She stared at Solus, her blue hair falling out of her face. Solus grimly stared back. He pointed his staff at her and pointed it right at her heart._

_The next thing Krystal knew was that she was gently floating away. She was becoming part of the wind…_

_**End Flash Back**_

"It's my fault," Fox moaned, "I should've been there. I _let_ her go away," he repeated it over and over.

"Well… its not like she's dead or anything…" Link nervously said.

"How do you know?" Fox looked at him searchingly. There was a glimmer of hope in the critical look he was giving Link, "How can you be sure?"

Link opened his mouth. But there was no answer.

**X.X.X**

Nana heard a roar penetrate the air. This caused her to stop in her tracks. "Link!" She shouted.

But the roar was so loud that Young Link couldn't even hear her shout. He stopped too. They looked at each other in fear.

"Run!" They both shouted in unison. They started to run. But Young Link was so fast that Nana couldn't keep up.

"Wait!" She cried desperately.

The deafening roar sounded again, this time louder. Nana scrambled forward faster. Her heart was beating faster than she ever thought it would be. She didn't dare look back.

Suddenly something swiped her up. She screamed. This scream was louder than the roar.

"LIIIINK!" She yelled. Young Link turned around his sword drawn. And then he saw what was carrying her.

"What?" Young Link disbelievingly said to himself. Then he blinked at the monster. The expression was of disbelief as he stared at this mythical monster.

The Yeti stood on two legs, about 9 feet tall. His fur was white, and his claws were razor sharp. His eyes were mean and cold. He looked like King Kong, except none of the warmth emanated from this monster.

What struck Young Link even more puzzled was that the monster was in a _jungle_. Wasn't this mythical creature supposed to be in the Himalayas?

The creature roared again, snapping Young Link back to his senses. The Yeti swiped furiously at him. Young Link rolled away in the nick of time. He stabbed at the creature's paw with his sword. The enraged creature let loose a roar of agony.

His other paw squeezed Nana so that she couldn't breathe. In panic, she flailed wildly. One of her hands hit the mythical monster in the eye. He let out a deafening roar, and dropped her. Down came Nana, she collapsed on the ground.

"Aim for its eye!" She screamed at Young Link.

Young Link didn't reply, but he took out his bow and an arrow. He lit it and aimed, and then let it loose. The arrow soared through the air and pierced the left eye of the Yeti. The creature roared in pain. Young Link threw his sword and pierced the monster right in the gut.

That was it. The creature moaned. A purplish liquid fell from the wound. He swayed dangerously. Nana ran out of way.

Young Link was the unlucky one. The creature fell on the young Hylian who moaned and closed his eyes.

Nana ran back to him. With difficulty, she managed to pull him out from underneath the heavy animal.

"Link…" She whispered. She looked at him with a tender expression. Never before had she given him this look until now. _This is my fault! What am I supposed to do now! If it wasn't for me, Link would've reached to them by now…_ she thought sadly.

She was determined to carry Young Link with her. So she made a makeshift bed out of leaves and branches the Yeti had cracked off from its trees, and then dragged him onto it. Then she picked up one end and continued to look for the unlucky group.

**X.X.X**

Half an hour had passed, before a sweaty and tired Nana reached the clearing. Her face was red from the effort to pull Young Link with her, and she was exhausted from dragging somebody who was slightly heavier than her.

"Guys…" she panted. She uselessly attempted to swat away the flies. Sweat dripped down the red-faced girl, and her wet hair clung to her cheeks.

The group turned to her. Amazingly, the Time Stop did not affect them. Neither were the two strange children that had made Krystal vanish.

"Nana? Is that you?" Zelda asked softly. The Hylian princess's eyes gazed at the object Nana was pulling.

"Link…?" She asked, thinking it was the older version of the elf.

"Young Link," Nana let go of the makeshift bed and collapsed to the floor.

"Nana," Solus said kindly.

"Who the heck are you?" she asked irritably, not even bothered that he knew her name beforehand "And what have you done with Krystal?"

"It was Destiny's choice not mine, for her to fail the test," Solus bowed his head solemnly.

"Sure it was," replied a very ticked off Nana. She was beginning to like this boy lesser every second. She hated everything about him. She hated that he was far wiser than he looked, and that his wisdom made her seem inferior.

"Perhaps this will calm and refresh you…?" Luna pointed her staff at Nana and chanted,

"_Ease the girl's noble pain_

_Her efforts won't go in vain_

_And make her laugh_

_O, Mighty staff"_

Nana felt a sudden chill sweep through her. And a second later it felt like she'd taken a nice hot shower and had a nap. "Thanks," she muttered to Luna.

"It was no problem," Luna smiled quietly at her.

Then Nana faced the crowd, now happier. It was probably the effect of the spell. "There is a way out of here," she addressed them.

"What do you mean "a way out?" Are you going to teleport us out of here?" Mewtwo asked calmly.

Nana considered the question, "In a way," she said. Then she proceeded to explain that this was indeed, a figment of everybody's imagination, "I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I can get you out of here."

Mr. Game & Watch exclaimed, "I'm not sure about you guys, but I want out of this weird place."

A murmur of assent rippled the crowd.

"Okay," Nana said. She breathed, pressed the button and felt a whir of memories flash through her head. The last thing she thought about was home.

**X.X.X**

"Helloooo?" Young Link grinned Nana. She breathed deeply, opened her eyes and looked at Young Link.

"You're awake?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," he smiled.

Nana groaned and sat up. She sighed heavily, "I'm never going in there again." She said.

Young Link snorted. "It was me saving your neck, so I ought to be the one to say that."

"Thank you," Nana replied, a little taken aback at his sudden outburst.

Young Link didn't acknowledge her thanks. Instead he said, "Well, are you going to get up or what?"

"As a matter of fact, I am, mister," she irritably replied.

"Good, 'cause I was starting to think you were so slow that by the time you got out of there, we'd be skeletons."

"I'm not as slow as you are," Nana angrily replied. She hopped out of the pod, her hair dripping, from the liquid, "anyway, I don't see anybody awake just yet."

"That's because this is their first time getting out. First times take a little longer, dope," Young Link rolled his eyes at her.

Nana was really mad at him now. "I know, I was just trying to tell you that I wa-"

"No time for talking, I think they're waking up," Young Link cut her off. He wanted to cover up for the kindness he showed her previously, and he knew that cutting her off would sear off the suspicions she had about him liking her (If she ever thought that…)

Nana glared at him angrily, "You really have a problem… you know that right?"

"You really have an ugly face… you know that right?" He mimicked, his eyes glittering maliciously.

Nana turned away, rolling her eyes. _One minute he's nice to me, and the next minute he really gets on my last nerve.…_ she thought angrily looking at the now stirring Nintendo City citizens.

"I think they're waking up," Popo said, who had just arrived a minute ago. He always seemed to miss what was going on between them.

"Yeah, finally," Young Link said. His tone was different now that Popo had come.

"Ugh! My hair!" Nana heard Peach exclaim. Nana rolled her eyes in disgust. You would think that in times of danger, the last thing you worried about was your hair.

"Heh, I think the look suits you," Nana heard Roy say. He was standing next to Peach grinning broadly.

"Really?" Peach smiled embarrassedly. She looked down.

"Yeah, matches your personality. I think I'll call your new hairdo "The Wet Cat Look"." He replied, laughing at his own joke.

"Haha, very funny," she rolled her eyes at him as he tweaked her clinging hair, "you have the lamest insults; you know that, right?"

Roy raised his eyebrows, then grinned goofily again, "Love you too, Peach-ums."

Peach just stuck her tongue out at him, but she couldn't hide the grin that was tugging at her lips. _She enjoys being made fun of when it comes to her lover. I wonder why? I will never understand this feeling._ Nana thought hopelessly, as she watched Roy pull her into a playful embrace.

Meanwhile, it was becoming clear what was happening to Krystal and Saria. They had both woken up… but something happened to them in the process.

It was discovered that Saria and Krystal had become blind. That was what happened to them, when they couldn't complete their dares. They had opened their sightless eyes, thinking something had gone wrong. They stumbled out of their pods and began bumping into people.

Nana turned away from them and looked at Popo who was failing miserably to gain everybody's attention. Finally, Popo lost all patience and whammed his hammer onto the floor, creating a loud noise. The startled group looked up.

"We have to get out of here. Now," Popo said in a clear voice.

"But where to?" Mr. Game and Watch asked.

"First we find the rest of our group. And then we get out of here. This is the last obstacle, after all. Understand?"

There was a chorus of "yes" and everybody followed Popo out the door.

Nana looked at the crowd. Saria and Krystal looked fine, as they were clinging onto Young Link and Falco, who were steering them. Adeleine had not woken up at all. Nana had a nasty suspicion that she truly was dead. She felt sadness for Ness that the person whom he loved did not wake up. But nothing could be helped.

They exited the room, to find a larger room. There were four doors in the shack. One lead from the way they came, Nana guessed. The other one outside to where they were supposed to go. And the third one, which was on the opposite end from their door, probably held the rest of the people.

Popo marched toward the door and tried opening it. But it was locked, "Any ideas?" he asked, looking at the crowd.

"Wait," Mewtwo said calmly, "stand back."

Everybody parted ways. Mewtwo focused his eyes on the doorknob. His normally purple eyes glowed a deep gold color. There was a click, and the door swung open, like nothing happened.

From inside, they could see Link standing up in excitement, and immediately bumping his head on the low ceiling.

Marth heard Samus laugh at him, and his heart jolted. It seemed like months, rather than just a couple hours, since he last heard her voice.

He was so afraid she would reject him. Her laugh seemed to torment his soul, because he knew that she would not love him back, ever since last night had happened.

Her emerald green eyes met his for a minute, but he couldn't tell what was written in them. He broke their gaze, and looked down.

After every person had come out from the tiny, low ceiling room, Marth hid in the crowd, hoping beyond hope that she would not see him.

But Samus was not a Bounty Huntress for nothing. She was paid to spot things nobody could spot. And she saw him hiding away from her. She decided to leave him for now because she didn't know what to say to him, never having experienced this strange feeling before. She always was alone… and if none of them spoke their feelings…she would always be alone.

"Krystal!" Krystal couldn't see where his voice came from, but she knew who it belonged to.

"Fox! Her own voice penetrated the air. She let go of Falco's arm and took two tottering steps toward the voice, her arms outstretched so as not to hit any obstacles in front of her.

Two arms wrapped around her, and she felt his head burrowing into her hair. She felt his hot breath against her head as Fox whispered, "What have they done to you?"

Krystal felt a tear slide down her face. Now that Fox had said those words, she felt the full weight of the burden. She could no longer fly. This meant she was booted off the team. She was of no more use to them.

And she would never be able to see her lover, "Oh Fox… I'm not of any use to you. I'm b-blind." She said, her voice cracking on the word. It was strange, these words being used on her.

"Blind?" She felt the weight of his head shift off of her head. Then she felt his warm thumbs brushing away her tears.

"Yes… I won't be able to fly. I can't do any more missions. I can't live my life normally anymore. I'm so…" she sighed helplessly, "So handicapped."

"That's okay Krystal! I'm fine with that… as long as you are living…" She heard him smile as he spoke his words. He had so much to give her. And she had… close to nothing.

"But how are you still happy? I'm blind. I'll be a burden to you everywhere we go together," Krystal said.

"Krystal," Fox's voice was now stern, "Just because you are blind doesn't mean it's the end of the world. You have to remember that your friends and I—we all love you. Don't worry. You're not alone as much as you think. There are many blind people living in this world, perfectly happy. They have so much to live for. And besides," he paused, "you've only lost one of your senses. You still have four perfectly good ones left."

Krystal let the last sentence sink in. _Four senses_… she thought. She should be grateful for them. Shyly, she looked down, "Thank you Fox."

"Now let's forget about this." He put an arm around her waist and started talking to Falco, hearing what happened while he was gone.

Meanwhile Zelda was trying to avoid, but also at the same time look for a certain green dressed person.

"Zelda," there came her name. And Zelda recognized it so well, but she pretended not to hear. The name came out, not as a question, or a form of recognition. It came out merely as a statement.

"Zelda!" Now it came out as a shout. Zelda closed her eyes. Should she turn around to the voice, fling her arms around him, and whisper how sorry she was? Somehow, she suddenly felt so tired of the whole thing.

She felt exhausted at the moment. Everything that occurred since the day she entered the gates of the theme park, she'd been able to cope with. But now… she just felt like breaking down. Hearing his very voice just made her want to bawl, and collapse. She didn't—_couldn't_—face him.

"Zelda!" The voice was nearer. Zelda had no choice but to turn around. Everybody around her was looking at Link and had a look that clearly stated, "Why isn't she turning around?" So the Hylian princess turned around, and Link stopped abruptly, a foot away from her.

He didn't kiss her. He didn't hug her. He didn't even pat her on the back, or touch her. This was a really bad sign for Zelda. This meant that he didn't like her.

"Yes?" She asked tiredly and stiffly at the same time. His very presence made her feel awkward

"I'm very glad to see you in one piece. Are you okay?" Link asked. He probably meant well, but Zelda could detect a faint strained tone in his voice.

"I am fine. There is no need to concern yourself for my health," Zelda answered, in a polite and stiff manner.

Link smiled a little embarrassedly, and scratched the nape of his neck, "Well… I'm supposed to be your hero. So naturally I thought…"

"It's alright. You don't need to think about me anymore," Zelda said. This time there was a hard edge to her voice. It was clear that he didn't show any more feelings for her or he was too shy or embarrassed to show them.

Zelda turned away, and began to walk toward Peach and Samus who were talking to Mario and Roy. Everybody was oblivious to what was going on to the two elves, except for Saria who listened with interest, but not with jealousy. She knew her place as a friend with Link. Nothing more, nothing less. She was never going to interfere with Link and Zelda. Ever again.

"Zelda wait!" Link grabbed her by the wrist.

"What is it?" She asked. Goosebumps emanated from where he'd touched her.

"I—I heard…" He cleared his throat and looked on the ground. Why was this courage so much harder than the courage that gave him strength to slay monsters? "I heard what you said… in the cyberspace. About me."

This made Zelda turn around. She looked at Link whose blue eyes were on the floor, downcast, meek, yet hopeful.

When Zelda didn't respond an encouraged Link went on, "I wante-"

Zelda interrupted, "Look at me Link."

She was so tired of waiting. She couldn't wait a minute longer.

Link flinched and looked into her eyes. They held so many emotions that Link could not tell which were in them.

"Now tell me… Do you love me?" Zelda asked abruptly.

Link's eyes registered shock when she said it so suddenly. He wanted to say, "yes, I love you" and kiss her like it was in the movies, and have the happy ending, cue the credits.

"Do you love me?" Zelda asked more gently. She took his calloused hand in her own smooth ones. They were so warm against her cold ones.

Link turned his head and looked at everybody. Why was saying such a simple sentence so hard for him? He'd never failed at English. Zelda was practically waving it in his face. His eyes fell on Saria, who was sightless. She could not see that he was looking at her, but she felt him looking at him… perhaps it was because they were such good friends.

She smiled encouragingly at him, and though her eyes would always remain with a blank look in them, Link could've sworn he saw a flicker of encouragement in her eyes.

A friend was all he needed. He would not stutter now. The words that were stuck in his throat for so long, suddenly found their way up to his tongue.

"Zelda…" he found himself squeezing her hand back. This elicited a blush from Zelda, "I… do… love…"

"Hey Link! LIIINK! Big bro, can you get down here?" Zelda flinched and let go of his hand, and looked down at the younger version of Link.

"What?" She asked. She couldn't help feeling irritated at him for coming at the wrong moment and spoiling everything.

"I asked Link to come…" then Young Link noticed her glare and forced smile and added on quickly, "But you can come too if you'd wish."

"What is it Young Link?" Link asked the other green clad elf.

"I don't know. Everybody should've awakened. But Adeleine isn't waking up. I think she's…" Young Link stopped suddenly. Ness was standing nearby, looking at Young Link with a glazed look.

Link looked concerned, "What? She's not waking up?"

Zelda and Link exchanged looks and then started following Young Link, Popo, Nana, and Ness.

Once they'd reached Adeleine they saw her, with her eyes closed.

"If somebody dies in cyberspace… do they die in real life?" Nana asked in a whispered tone to Zelda.

"I… I don't know…" Zelda responded. She bent down slightly, looking at the young painter closer. "Adeleine…" She whispered.

There was no response.

"Adeleine…" She said in a normal voice.

Still there was no answer.

Zelda closed her eyes, opened them, and then placed two fingers gently on Adeleine's forehead.

Immediately Adeleine's eyes shot open. Fear filled them, and then she smiled when she recognized Zelda's face. "Zelda…?" she asked softly.

She didn't seem like herself. She seemed dreamy and woozy, but who wouldn't be after taking a nap that turned out to be the wackiest adventure of your life?

"Sh… You're going to be okay," Zelda said. She brushed a strand of hair off Adeleine's face.

Adeleine smiled, but her eyes seemed to go past Zelda's. Was she blind too?

But she couldn't be. Zelda picked up the child and placed her on the floor. She swayed dangerously, about to fall if it weren't for Ness who caught her and gently laid her on the floor.

"Hullo Ness…" she giggled weakly, "I feel so tired. I think I'm going to die. Ha-ha… get it?"

Nobody did. Apparently Ness didn't either but he let out a forced laugh for Adeleine's sake.

"Courage Ness," Link said it so low, that Ness had to lip-read what he was saying. He couldn't stop the tears that were coming in his eyes. Why is it that when people tell you to be strong, those are the very words that lead you to break down?

Ness squeezed Adeleine's hand gently, and wondered if the Cyberspace messed her brain up. And then he wondered if Adeleine's psychic because she said, "I think it messed my brain up. I'm not me anymore. Do you all hate me?" Her eyes questioningly looked at Ness.

"No. I don't think I would ever hate a girl like you," his voice was shaking when he said it. But every word he said was true.

"Adeleine… You'll get fixed up. I promise," Kirby said. He had somehow sensed Adeleine had awakened and had come into the room to see what was going on.

Adeleine's face frowned at him, "Who are you? I don't like you…. Go 'way," she said in a groggy voice. She sounded a bit drunk.

"It's me! Kirby! I'm your best friend," Kirby exclaimed.

Adeleine's eyes flickered for a moment. Then they showed puzzlement and unhappiness, "I don't remember you. I don't remember any of you. Except for… Zess and Nelda," she said slurring her words a bit. Her eyes were closing.

Ness stared sadly at Adeleine's face. He sighed, and looked away.

"It's gonna be okay…" Young Link patted Ness on the shoulder.

Nana glimpsed at Ness's face, and as she looked at it, her whole heart went out to him. He wasn't crying anymore, but his eyes showed so much pain… as if he shouldn't have witnessed this spectacle. And he shouldn't have.

Ness's eyes changed. Now they showed only hatred, "Whoever did this, is going to be pay." He said in the scariest tone Nana ever heard him use.

"Don't worry," Zelda said in a low and mean tone—this also scared Nana because Zelda rarely was mean to anybody—and looking as though she meant every word she added, "She will. She will get what she deserves."

Link gave her an astonished look. But then his expression changed and he also said in a strong voice, "She'll be dead before she knows who hits her."

"C'mon… we have to get out of here," Nana muttered. Link picked up the now unconscious painter. Then they all exited the room.

**X.X.X**

Mario adjusted his cap and grasped the steel doorknob. He could feel the warmth of the doorknob through his glove as he twisted the door open. They had finally exited the "House of Insanity" as Yoshi had so rightly called it, only to find another building. They hoped nothing else would happen. They hoped that this was truly where their answers lay.

The group of 28 stood for a minute at the door, which was only slightly open. Excitement and curiosity coursed through them like never before.

Mario took a deep breath and pushed the door open. They saw white marbled floor, and navy blue painted walls. There were desks lined against the walls. At the end of the corridor was a door. On the door was a gold nameplate that said in bold letters, "Master Hand".

"Well… now we know where we're going," Mario chuckled weakly.

Everybody laughed weakly as well.

"Wait… How do you know where we're supposed to go?" Luigi asked.

Everybody stared at him. Nobody answered him and instead walked through. They walked up to the door and knocked on it.

"Enter," came a voice.

"This is it," Marth murmured, and opened the door.

The office was just like any office, only that it was very spacious. There was a desk in the middle and a giant hand was floating in front of it.

When each person and creature had entered the room and made themselves comfortable by sitting on the floor, Master Hand said in a solemn voice, "Congratulations. I thought there would be less of you, but I suppose you all will do." He sat for a moment quietly.

Unable to keep the pent-up questions for so long Kirby asked it all in one word, "Why?"

"Why? Why what? Why did I send you here? What have you won?" Master Hand asked quizzically.

"Why did you bring us to this… nightmare?" Mario asked.

"Why did you kill Malon?" Saria asked.

"How is Medusia affiliated with you?" Peach asked, "Is she working for you, or are you working for her?"

Master Hand raised a finger up to silence everybody. He gave a sorrowful sigh. Then he said, "This is a very long story, children," he said.

"We have loads of time," Samus said crossing her arms.

Master Hand looked amused at the bounty huntress's defiant look.

"All right. Listen carefully, and please don't regard this as a fantasy. It is true. I was born five centuries ago, and I was born a normal human. I wasn't always like this… hand. I was young, courageous, handsome, and I was engaged to a beautiful lady named Celia. But that's when everything went awry."

Master Hand paused, to see if he'd captured everybody's attention. "There were strange rumors about an Island. It was unnamed, but we all called it 'The Island'. It was rumored to have magical waterfalls in it. One waterfall had the ability to make you young once more. Another always had treasures such as gold emeralds and other precious gems falling down its waters. But the Island was just, supposedly, a myth. They said that every sailor who got lost at sea landed up in 'The Island'. Most sailors found the place so peaceful and incredible that they stayed there. The few who came back told us of it.

"At the time, I really didn't care for it. Why should I? I was engaged to the woman who meant the world to me and I was a successful merchant. I had everything I wanted. Why should I waste my time looking for something that did not possibly exist?

"It was Celia's idea. She was always into fantasies. She wanted to go to 'The Island'. And she wanted to go so bad that she grew sick thinking of it. So I arranged a ship to take us there.

"We got lost on the first night. There was a storm raging and finally the ship wrecked. Only Celia and I survived. We landed on 'The Island' and it was like every fantasy painted. It was fantastic. It always had a gentle breeze, mythical creatures roamed about like phoenixes, unicorns, and dragons. Everybody was friendly yet untamed.

"We discovered the waterfall, that made us young and youthful. We drank it. Now we looked like teenagers once more. We were happily living on this island and it seemed that nothing would ever befall us.

"But there was one waterfall that wasn't like the rest. This waterfall made people's physical form vanish for good. Nobody knew about it. Until one day Celia and I took a walk deep into 'The Island'. We discovered the waterfall and Celia jumped in. She never came out. I waited. But nothing happened. It was unsettling. I plunged in. I vanished completely as well.

"Soon it was discovered that the waterfall was evil, being as it did make people vanish. And then came the rain. The rain came from that waterfall that made people vanish. Everybody began to vanish slowly as well. They were horrified. They left immediately. Now only one man named Vincent and his little girl remained on 'The Island'. Somehow, he found out what had happened to me. He also found out how to communicate with me. He said that he could bring me back in my physical form. But he said that in exchange for bringing myself back, I would have to take his little girl—Medusia—away from 'The Island' I agreed. I asked him if he could also bring back Celia, and Vincent agreed to that as well.

"But something went wrong in my transformation. I mutated into my right hand. Medusia's father brought Celia back, but Celia was sleeping at the time I left. I left with Medusia. As I grew up with Medusia I realized she wasn't… human."

"Human? She looks like one though!" Peach gave the hand a skeptical look.

"Yes," Master Hand said in a morose tone, "That's how Vincent would've wanted it. I found out that Vincent was a professor. And Medusia was not his daughter. She was his _experiment_."

The last word rang out. _Experiment?_ Everybody thought it, but didn't voice it out. They exchanged looks. Some like Bowser and Mr. Game and Watch had skeptical looks throughout the whole story.

"When I found out what she was… I was really shocked. That would explain why she had snakelike abilities. It was because Vincent used a snake's DNA to create her. Instead of treating Medusia kindly as I should have, I wanted to be far away as possible from her. I really didn't want to be next to a mutation. As a result, Medusia grew to be spoiled, and jealous. She never had any real friends. Finally, because she was growing so spoiled, I put her in a public school. This was a big mistake. She was a cunning girl, and she had the same interests as her dad, like potions. She made friends only with popular people," He pointed his finger at Peach, "and dated a lot of men who enjoyed being seduced by her. I knew I should have done something by now, but I couldn't bring myself to meddle in her affairs.

"Meanwhile Vincent came back. And he brought back Celia with him. And I was really heartbroken that Vincent and Celia were married. I was furious and sad. I was so enraged that I found some potions and I thought it was poison. But it wasn't. It was the same potion that Vincent used on me. He turned into his left hand. Celia was distraught. She ended up committing suicide. I never meant for it to happen. I felt so guilty that I let Vincent, who is now called Crazy Hand, live with me. We are now, what I feel I must call, brothers."

The whole room was quiet for a minute then—

"Okay. We heard your life story," Bowser growled, "What about _this_?"

"I beg your pardon?" Master Hand asked politely, oblivious to the fact that Bowser didn't really care about his life story.

"Why did you stick us in this… this horror? Mewtwo asked calmly.

"You've killed so many innocent lives!" shrieked Saria, whose mind was still fresh on Malon.

"And hurt a lot more," Link added quietly.

Master Hand snapped his fingers to settle the group down. They didn't question his authority and immediately quieted down. Master Hand spoke in a solemn voice, "This theme park was not built to kill. It was only built for a treasure hunt. I am afraid that Medusia grew jealous. She always did want to be in the spotlight," he sighed suddenly as though he was really tired of this mess, "I suppose most of it is my fault. I never gave the girl the attention she needed. And I suppose half of her nature comes from whatever Vincent did to her.

"Those with the map pieces please stand up," Master Hand suddenly said.

Puzzled but also reluctant to obey, everybody who possessed the map pieces stood up. Master Hand surveyed them, or that's how it looked like.

"Congratulations. You are the first twelve members of the Super Smash Brothers."

"I've heard of that before!" Mario exclaimed excitedly, "But it was supposed to be an ancient organization long ago. It never really was successful."

"What exactly is this Super Smash Brothers?" Samus asked cynically. She really didn't like the sound of it. She also narrowed her eyes in disgust at its name. "Brothers"? Samus was a girl and she was a part of it!

"Super Smash Brothers was an organization thousands of years ago. It was supposedly the most exciting and most popular game in the world. But on the first day it was to be opened, nothing was there. All that remained in the stadium was a map. _That_ map in fact," Master Hand pointed at the map that was currently in Nana's hands, "The map—as everybody came to discover—had magic qualities. Every time a building was razed to the ground or if a new building was replaced, the map would change, showing the new building and obliterating the old building. It also showed the location of people that were within the map's sight. The map also possessed the magical ability to be in your mind. An example of this is if you were having a dream while the map was in your possession, the map would be in possession even while having a dream.

"Anyhow, as years passed, the map was broken into 12 pieces and strayed far away from each other. I took the pains to get all of them back, and started this. I sold my business to open this organization. I know it will be a success, if you are willing to cooperate." He said.

"What exactly is this game?" Captain Falcon asked skeptically, "Is it as morbid as this test of yours?"

"Heavens no! It is like a wrestling match. Only the arenas you fight in are much more exciting. You will possess your own unique powers and use them to fight against each other. You won't get seriously injured, and at the end of every match the winner gets more money. At the end of the year there is a tournament. And the winner gets an increase in his salary, and gets whatever he wants, as long as it's reasonable."

The now new Smashers gazed at each other. "What will happen to the rest of our friends?" Yoshi asked.

"They will return home, of course," Master Hand said.

"What about Pichu?" Pikachu asked quietly, "What about our friends that accompanied and did all that we did? They overcame all of our hardships. The only difference between them and us is that we have the map pieces. They are still courageous as us."

Master Hand seemed to ponder this. When he spoke he seemed to be frowning, "What you say is true. Hmm… I cannot promise anything this year. But in the future your friends will have a place in Super Smash Brothers. After this year. Of course, you will all be staying at the Super Smash Brothers Mansion. However, if you have missions you must complete I understand completely. But if you are an honorary Super Smash Brothers member, you _have_ to stay at the mansion. It is required of you."

Everybody started talking at that.

Link, now seated next to Zelda looked at her with a soft expression, "I guess I won't see you for a long while after this."

Zelda looked away. She lost Link, almost had him back, only to find out that they wouldn't spend so much time in the next few years. The pain hurt too much when she realized that she wouldn't have him after all.

She felt a warm, rough hand over hers. The hand was, as she could tell, blistered with holding a sword tightly. A light blush overcame her when she realized it was Link. She forced herself to look at Link's face. Link ignored his heart that was beating rapidly. It was now he had to get back to her. Or he might not even see her for a long time. Link closed his hand over her fragile one and brought it up. Zelda weakly grasped his hand back.

Link shot her a smile. She returned it sadly. The words were unspoken but they were loud and clear. Their feelings seemed to flow through their hands to the other hand. Link was comforting Zelda's sad smile. This was true love; understanding through unspoken words.

Zelda sat a bit straighter, leaned up and brushed her lips against his. It was barely a kiss, but the same tingle shot up her spine as a normal kiss. Link looked at her with kind eyes; the same caring eyes that she loved to look at when they first got into this relationship. It was like she was falling in love over again. No words could replace what both were feeling right now. It was more than feeling elated happiness. It was more than soaring over the clouds. It was more than any words could capture.

"Yuck," Young Link muttered under his breath when he saw Zelda and Link. He snorted in disgust.

"There's nothing disgusting about that," chided Nana. She smiled at the two Hylians. Her heart fluttered unexpectedly at the sight of both of them. A vision filled her sight when she unexpectedly saw _herself_ kissing Link.

It was disgusting. But then she realized that it wasn't Link she saw herself envisioning. It was…

She turned her face away from Young Link, so he wouldn't see her flushing. That was really unexpected.

Young Link in the meantime frowned at Nana's sudden head movement. "Girls…" he muttered under his breath, "They are so weird. Even the tomboys."

Nana felt a flash of anger that made her feelings for him vanish, "And I'll never understand boys," she amended herself, "No wait—not boys in general. Just you! You always seem to have a problem with girls. What is it? Are you too stupid to win a girl over?" Nana taunted.

"No!" Young Link protested indignantly, "I just think they're loony!"

Nana rolled her eyes, "One day, you'll think differently of girls, and you'll change your opinion."

Young Link grinned devilishly at her, "Never as long as long as I live. I will never be friends with anybody as girly as girls are!"

"Oh? And what about me?" Nana asked, and she cocked an eyebrow up. "Am I a friend? I can't be an acquaintance; we've been through too much to be just an acquaintance, and I wouldn't dream of being your sweetheart 'cos you're too immature," she lied at that since she just had a thought about them, "and I'm not an enemy. If I were, you'd be bruised from head to toe. So if I'm not any of those things… _what am I_?" She asked.

Satisfaction mounted her as she watched Young Link struggle with that question. Finally he smiled grudgingly, "You're an exception."

It was Nana's turn to be surprised. She hadn't expected him to answer. But she was surprised and pleased at his answer. Her expression softened, "Thank you."

Young Link smile was genuine now, "For what?"

"I'm happy to be your friend," she replied.

They grinned at each other. Nothing more was exchanged between them but they were definitely happier each pleased by what the other had said.

"Well, it's time to go then," Master Hand said. He led the Smashers and the rest of the unchosen outside.

But right when they got out, somebody grabbed Samus who was at the end of the line, and put a knife to her neck.

"Father!" Medusia sneered at Master Hand. Samus narrowed her eyes at Medusia, looking tough, though inside she was really scared. This was the second time Medusia was doing this to her.

"Medusia! Let her go!" Master Hand demanded.

"No father. This is what you get. You brought me up horribly. You will _pay_." She snarled, "You changed my real father to a disfigured insane man! I heard the whole thing of what you said inside."

"Listen Medusia… stop this nonsense! I'm truly sorry for the pain I caused you." Master Hand said.

"I won't stop!" Medusia spat.

While Medusia and Master Hand were arguing, Marth and Samus's eyes met. Samus wondered what Marth would do _this_ time. She recalled that last time Marth really didn't care. But now she knew the reason to why he was acting strange. She heard it through Link and also heard him confess his love for her through the screen.

Marth in the meantime grasped his sword that was still sheathed. He drew into the crowd then around the crowd. Medusia was busy arguing; she didn't notice Marth go around to Medusia's back.

"Dead." He flicked his sword out and held it to Medusia's neck, "Let her go. _Now_." He growled in a menacing voice.

Medusia froze for only a minute. Then she sneered at him, "If you cut my throat, I will kill her, so I can watch you weep. I will be happy dying, but you won't. You'll live in torment for the rest of your life, thinking about how rash you were. You will go to your deathbed with the guilt of killing your sweetheart." Medusia cackled deliriously. She was now fully insane. She knew she was going to die anyway.

_Fwoosh._

Marth felt something whistling passed his abdomen. Then a second later—

_Thump._

He felt Medusia stiffen in surprise. Then he felt her hands drop to her sides, and lean against him bodily. He felt something warm drench through his blood. He laid Medusia unkindly and turned to see whose arrow had killed Medusia.

It was Kid Icarus.

He looked numb with horror, and unsure of what to do. His bow lay at his side.

"I-I… Thought you needed help…" he stammered.

Marth stared at Medusia beautiful yet cruel face and remembered how she once had tried to woo him. He grimaced.

"It's over." He heard Samus say softly next to him.

He knelt on one knee, his head bowed, "Yeah. It's over finally."

He wasn't really aware that Samus was watching him, judging his posture. She took him by the arm and drew him up gently and guided him back to the crowd.

"Thank you," she said shyly.

Marth nodded. "I had to do it. I couldn't stand around… like I did before," he guiltily thought about everything that happened last night (_Was it last night?_ He thought wonderingly, _it seemed like months ago_).

"You were confused about your feelings. Everybody is," Samus stated empathetically.

Marth realized how close him and Samus were. He also realized that Samus hadn't let go of his arm. "I was wrong to not save you when I had the chance," he sighed tiredly. It was usually his duty to play as the flirt and the romance, but he wasn't so sure of his abilities now.

Samus stared at him with her emerald green eyes. It was amazing how they could change so fast. He'd never seen her without her guard on. This was rare. Her eyes were soft and kind instead of sharp, lucid, and witty. Then, although she wasn't experienced in these matters she pulled him into a hug and allowed him to stroke her hair, wrap his arms around her and breathe her neck and her hair. "I am really sorry," he whispered against her neck. "I made a mistake, and I promise it won't happen again."

His breath sent goose bumps all over Samus. She pulled him to her tighter, running her hands through his hair that he'd spent so much time on brushing. She'd wanted to hear this from him so much.

"I really do like you. And I must ask… do you love me back?" He asked.

Samus was never allowed to speak her feelings. But that was only during a mission she would have to guard her feelings. It was too late for her to reject him. She couldn't even force the two-letter word out. It was as if even her brain was telling her it was okay.

She pulled him away, so he could see her expression, "Yes. I will," she replied solemnly.

Marth, much to Samus's embarrassment, pulled her to a kiss. In public. Then Samus willed herself to relax. She really did enjoy what was going on. So what if it was in public? She felt as if they both deserved this. And with that she smiled against his lips and pulled him closer.

**X.X.X**

_**Mario's POV**_

Nintendo City's graveyard was much more packed in graves and people after this happened. Two days had passed, and the theme park had been closed.

Everybody who had died finally had a peaceful burial place. I watched Saria who wore black. It struck me odd that Saria was wearing black when she wore nothing but green, but I suppose it fit her current feelings. I watched as Saria feel the grave, and brush away the leaves and place a bouquet of black tulips onto her grave. Undoubtedly, somebody had thrown a spell on it so that it was black. I'd heard of Black Tulips. They were really rare and expensive. They were also everlasting flowers. I watched Zelda (dressed in white) magic the flowers so that nobody could steal them. I saw Saria weep, and turn away.

All 28 of us were in the graveyard (Adeleine was in a hospital. The doctors said that she could be cured. At this very moment the doctors were operating on her) I watched everybody quietly with Luigi and Dr. Mario. For once, I really didn't feel like talking to anybody. I appreciated whatever was going on.

I watched Roy wrap his arms around Peach from behind and Peach place her hands on his arms, their expressions were content and peaceful, with a hint of sadness. I saw Pikachu holding Pichu's hand comfortingly (Pichu was deathly afraid of being graveyards) while Jigglypuff and Kirby floated up to an apple tree in the graveyard munching on a couple of apples. Young Link, Popo, Ness and Nana rolled in the grass, giggling. I saw Young Link accidentally roll on Nana. Both of them paused. Then they jerked off of each other disgustedly. The scene somehow amused me.

"Young love," Luigi commented, with a smile on his lips.

"Very young," I agreed amusedly.

Dr. Mario just chuckled, shaking his head.

Bowser and Ganondorf seemed to have found a friend in each other as they stared off into the horizon, their expressions bleak.

Zelda was propped up against a tree, absentmindedly playing with Link's hair, his head on her lap. Both their expressions clearly showed that they were mourning Malon and were concerned for Saria.

Fox and Krystal's tails waved in unison as they sat on the brick wall looking at the scenery, talking. Falco was on Fox's other side studying his reflection in a compact mirror. He heard Fox and Krystal laugh and saw Falco scowl.

Marth and Samus suddenly emerged from behind a tree their faces red. I didn't want to dwell on what they were doing: I could tell from their happy, flushed expressions that they were making out.

Yoshi was stretched on the grass with DK and Mr. Game and Watch. They looked at the sky that was now pink and purple and red. Captain Falcon was propped against the base of the tree that Kirby and Jigglypuff were on, with his legs sprawled out and his arms on his head. I almost laughed when Jigglypuff and Kirby accidentally dropped a number of apples on him and that made him swear angrily.

The scene was peaceful, despite the depressing setting.

_Look,_ I heard Mewtwo project into everybody's head. They looked startled.

"At what?" they all asked confusedly.

_The sunset is beautiful. I think it fits the peace around us._ He replied.

All at once everybody turned toward the direction of the sun. It was indeed a beautiful sight. It seemed that as the sun went down, so would the day. The sky was turning a lovely lavender color that faded into pinks and dark blues.

As I looked at the sunset, I also thought (as the last rays disappeared) that the sunset truly ended The Test.

_**THE END**_

**Whoo! It's finally over! I can't believe I did it! This is actually the longest chapter I've ever done! 26 pages and over 10000 words! Whoa! I hope you guys liked it. Now that this is over, my school starts on Monday, so updates will be slower than anticipated. Yes, updates slower than usual. Okay so review, and thank you for everything! All thanks goes to my reviewers. I've said it repeatedly, but you guys really made me want to go through this!**

**Also, thanks goes to my sister who let me complete this on her laptop. THANK YOU IMAN (Though you'll never read this)!**

**And of course, more special thanks to whoever stuck to me after I came back. You guys are awesome –tear- I love you guys!**

**So comments anyone?**


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